Stretchable and Foldable Electronic Devices

ABSTRACT

Disclosed herein are stretchable, foldable and optionally printable, processes for making devices and devices such as semiconductors, electronic circuits and components thereof that are capable of providing good performance when stretched, compressed, flexed or otherwise deformed. Strain isolation layers provide good strain isolation to functional device layers. Multilayer devices are constructed to position a neutral mechanical surface coincident or proximate to a functional layer having a material that is susceptible to strain-induced failure. Neutral mechanical surfaces are positioned by one or more layers having a property that is spatially inhomogeneous, such as by patterning any of the layers of the multilayer device.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/974,963, filed Aug. 23, 2013, which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/398,811, filed Mar. 5, 2009 (now U.S. Pat. No.8,552,299), which claims benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent App. Nos.61/033,886, filed Mar. 5, 2008, 61/061,978 filed Jun. 16, 2008, and61/084,045 filed Jul. 28, 2008, each of which are specificallyincorporated by reference herein to the extent not inconsistent with thepresent application.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

This invention was made at least in part with U.S. government supportunder DMI-0328162 and ECCS-0824129 awarded by the National ScienceFoundation and under DEFG02-91 ER45439, DEFG02-07ER46471 andDEFG02-07ER46453 awarded by the Department of Energy. The U.S.government has certain rights in the invention.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

Since the first demonstration of a printed, all polymer transistor in1994, a great deal of interest has been directed at a potential newclass of electronic systems comprising flexible integrated electronicdevices on plastic substrates. [Garnier, F., Hajlaoui, R., Yassar, A.and Srivastava, P., Science, Vol. 265, pgs 1684-1686] Recently,substantial research has been directed toward developing new solutionprocessable materials for conductors, dielectrics and semiconductorselements for flexible plastic electronic devices. Progress in the fieldof flexible electronics, however, is not only driven by the developmentof new solution processable materials but also by new device componentgeometries, efficient device and device component processing methods andhigh resolution patterning techniques applicable to flexible electronicsystems. It is expected that such materials, device configurations andfabrication methods will play an essential role in the rapidly emergingnew class of flexible integrated electronic devices, systems andcircuits.

Interest in the field of flexible electronics arises out of severalimportant advantages provided by this technology. For example, theinherent flexibility of these substrate materials allows them to beintegrated into many shapes providing for a large number of usefuldevice configurations not possible with brittle conventional siliconbased electronic devices. In addition, the combination of solutionprocessable component materials and flexible substrates enablesfabrication by continuous, high speed, printing techniques capable ofgenerating electronic devices over large substrate areas at low cost.

The design and fabrication of flexible electronic devices exhibitinggood electronic performance, however, present a number of significantchallenges. First, the well developed methods of making conventionalsilicon based electronic devices are incompatible with most flexiblematerials. For example, traditional high quality inorganic semiconductorcomponents, such as single crystalline silicon or germaniumsemiconductors, are typically processed by growing thin films attemperatures (>1000 degrees Celsius) that significantly exceed themelting or decomposition temperatures of most plastic substrates. Inaddition, most inorganic semiconductors are not intrinsically soluble inconvenient solvents that would allow for solution based processing anddelivery. Second, although many amorphous silicon, organic or hybridorganic-inorganic semiconductors are compatible with incorporation intoflexible substrates and can be processed at relatively low temperatures,these materials do not have electronic properties capable of providingintegrated electronic devices capable of good electronic performance.For example, thin film transistors having semiconductor elements made ofthese materials exhibit field effect mobilities approximately threeorders of magnitude less than complementary single crystalline siliconbased devices. As a result of these limitations, flexible electronicdevices are presently limited to specific applications not requiringhigh performance, such as use in switching elements for active matrixflat panel displays with non-emissive pixels and in light emittingdiodes.

Flexible electronic circuitry is an active area of research in a numberof fields including flexible displays, electro-active surfaces ofarbitrary shapes such as electronic textiles and electronic skin. Thesecircuits often are unable to sufficiently conform to their surroundingsbecause of an inability of the conducting components to stretch inresponse to conformation changes. Accordingly, those flexible circuitsare prone to damage, electronic degradation and can be unreliable underrigorous and/or repeated conformation change. Flexible circuits requirestretchable and bendable interconnects that remain intact while cyclingthrough stretching and relaxation.

Conductors that are capable of both bending and elasticity are generallymade by embedding metal particles in an elastomer such as silicone.Those conductive rubbers are both mechanically elastic and electricallyconductive. The drawbacks of a conductive rubber include high electricalresistivity and significant resistance changes under stretching, therebyresulting in overall poor interconnect performance and reliability.

Gray et al. discuss constructing elastomeric electronics usingmicrofabricated tortuous wires encased in a silicone elastomer capableof linear strains up to 54% while maintaining conductivity. In thatstudy, the wires are formed as a helical spring-shape. In contrast tostraight-line wires that fractured at low strains (e.g., 2.4%), tortuouswires remained conductive at significantly higher strains (e.g., 27.2%).Such a wire geometry relies on the ability of wires to elongate bybending rather than stretching. That system suffers limitations in theability to controllably and precisely pattern in different shapes and inadditional planes, thereby limiting the ability to tailor systems todifferent strain and bending regimes.

Studies suggest that elastically stretchable metal interconnectsexperience an increase in resistance with mechanical strain. (Mandlik etal. 2006). Mandlik et al. attempt to minimize this resistance change bydepositing metal film on pyramidal nanopatterned surfaces. That study,however, relies on the relief feature to generate microcracks thatimpart stretchability to thin metal lines. The microcracks facilitatemetal elastic deformation by out of plane twisting and deformation.Those metal cracks, however, are not compatible with thick metal films,and instead is compatible with a rather narrow range of thin metal films(e.g., on the order of less than 30 nm) that are deposited on top ofpatterned elastomer.

One manner of imparting stretchability to metal interconnects is byprestraining (e.g., 15%-25%) the substrate during conductor (e.g.,metal) application, followed by spontaneous relief of the prestain,thereby inducing a waviness to the metal conductor interconnects. (see,e.g., Lacour et al. (2003); (2005); (2004), Jones et al. (2004); Huck etal. (2000); Bowden et al. (1998)). Lacour et al. (2003) report byinitially compressing gold stripes to generate spontaneously wrinkledgold stripes, electrical continuity is maintained under strains of up to22% (compared to fracture strains of gold films on elastic substrates ofa few percent). That study, however, used comparatively thin layers ofmetal films (e.g., about 105 nm) and is relatively limited in that thesystem could potentially make electrical conductors that could bestretched by about 10%.

From the forgoing, it is apparent there is a need for electronic devicessuch as interconnects and other electronic components having improvedstretchability, electrical properties and related processes for rapidand reliable manufacture of stretchable interconnects in a variety ofdifferent configurations. Progress in the field of flexible electronicsis expected to play a critical role in a number of important emergingand established technologies. The success of these applications offlexible electronics technology depends strongly, however, on thecontinued development of new materials, device configurations andcommercially feasible fabrication pathways for making integratedelectronic circuits and devices exhibiting good electronic, mechanicaland optical properties in flexed, deformed and bent conformations.Particularly, high performance, mechanically extensible materials anddevice configurations are needed exhibiting useful electronic andmechanical properties in folded, stretched and/or contractedconformations.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Highly bendable and stretchable electronic devices, and methods formaking such devices, are accessed by controlling the location of aneutral mechanical surface to correspond to strain-sensitive layers orby selective use of strain isolation layers to isolate strain-sensitivelayers from applied stresses and strains. The processes and devices areuseful in a wide range of applications and devices such as electronicand optoelectronic systems in curved systems and systems that undergomechanical deformation. The processes and devices combine high qualityelectronic materials, such as aligned arrays of silicon nanoribbons andother inorganic nanomaterials, with ultrathin and elastomericsubstrates, in multilayer neutral mechanical plane designs and with anoptionally ‘wavy’ structural layout. Such approaches, guided by detailedmechanics models, facilitate design and manufacture of diverse classesof integrated circuits as well as highly integrated optoelectronicssystems with well-developed electronic materials, whose intrinsicbrittle, fragile mechanical properties would otherwise preclude theiruse in such applications The systems and processes are capable ofproviding strain-independent electrical devices at a performance levelcomparable to state-of-the-art devices built on brittle semiconductorwafers. For example, systems provided herein minimize or eliminate theinfluence of mechanical strain on device performance, therebyfacilitating the use of such devices in a wide range of applications andof any arbitrary geometry. In other aspects, the systems provided hereinaccess shape-conforming electronic devices that would otherwise undergostrain-induced mechanical failure.

Processes provided herein are optionally compatible with conventionalelectronics manufacturing processes that are intrinsically planar innature due to the patterning, deposition, etching, materials growth anddoping methods used in those existing fabrication processes. Stretchableand compressible systems provided herein avoid planar geometrylimitations by facilitating a geometric transformation of conventionalplanar geometry manufacturing systems to an arbitrarily curvilinearshape for use in applications requiring non-linear geometry.Accordingly, processes provided herein permit integration of planardevice technologies onto surfaces of complex curvilinear objects.

Spatially inhomogenous layers and patterning of such layers provides thecapacity to position a neutral mechanical surface (NMS) as desired, suchas proximate, coincident or adjacent to a layer containing astrain-sensitive material, such as a functional layer. In this aspect,“strain-sensitive” refers to a material that fractures or is otherwiseimpaired in response to a relatively low level of strain. In an aspect,the NMS is coincident or proximate to a functional layer. In an aspectthe NMS is coincident to a functional layer, referring to at least aportion of the NMS is located within the functional layer that containsa strain-sensitive material for all lateral locations along the NMS. Inan aspect, the NMS is proximate to a functional layer, wherein althoughthe NMS may not be coincident with the functional layer, the position ofthe NMS provides a mechanical benefit to the functional layer, such assubstantially lowering the strain that would otherwise be exerted on thefunctional layer but for the position of the NMS. For example, theposition of a proximate NMS is optionally defined as the distance fromthe strain-sensitive material that provides an at least 10%, 20%, 50% or75% reduction in strain in the strain-sensitive material for a givenfolded configuration, such as a device being folded so that the radiusof curvature is on the order of the millimeter or centimeter scale. Inanother aspect, the position of a proximate NMS can be defined inabsolute terms such as a distance from the strain-sensitive material,such as less than several mm, less than 2 mm, less than 10 μm, less than1 μm, or less than 100 nm. In another aspect, the position of aproximate layer is defined relative to the layer that is adjacent to thestrain-sensitive material, such as within the 50%, 25% or 10% of thelayer closest to the strain-sensitive-containing layer. In an aspect,the proximate NMS is contained within a layer that is adjacent to thefunctional layer.

In addition, the geometry of devices in the functional layer is used inan aspect to provide stretchability and compressibility. In anembodiment, the systems are multilayer devices that exploit inorganicsemiconductor nanomaterials configured into structural shapes that cangeometrically accommodate large mechanical deformations withoutimparting significant strains in the materials themselves. For example,interconnects that connect rigid device islands may be wavy or buckledas further described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/851,182(U.S. Pub. No. 2008/0157235), hereby incorporated by reference.Similarly, the layer upon which the device component rests may be wavy.Such geometry provides for reversible stretchability in regions that canaccommodate such forces while minimizing or relieving the need forstretchability in other relatively rigid regions.

In an aspect, the invention is a method of making a stretchable andfoldable electronic device by providing a multilayer device comprising asubstrate layer, a functional layer and a one or more neutral mechanicalsurface adjusting layer, wherein the functional layer is supported by asubstrate layer, with at least one layer of the multilayer having aproperty that is spatially inhomogeneous, wherein the spatiallyinhomogeneous property positions a neutral mechanical surface that iscoincident or proximate to a functional layer. Examples of a propertythat can provide spatial inhomogeneous to effect a change in NMSposition include, but are not limited to one or more of: Young'smodulus; deposition of an add layer; layer thickness; recess feature;spatially patterning device components in said functional layer, andfunctional layer geometry. Any property that effects a change in one ormore of these properties can be spatially modified. Accordingly, theporosity or cross-linking of a layer may be spatially varied to therebyspatially modify the layer's Young's modulus, thereby spatiallymodifying the location of the NMS.

In an embodiment, the spatial inhomogeneity is provided by a stepcomprising lateral patterning any of the layers. Lateral refers to avariation over an x-y plane coordinate system, where the layer thicknessis defined in the z-axis which is orthogonal to the x-y plane. Suchlateral patterning provides lateral spatial inhomogeneity to influencethe position of the NMS. In an aspect the lateral patterning is providedby patterning a substrate with one or more neutral mechanical surfaceadjusting layers comprising thin films or add layers. The patterningoptionally comprises one or more encapsulating layers, one or morerecess features such as etch holes, or both.

Spatial inhomogeneity is optionally achieved by a lateral patterningthat is selectively varying the thickness of a substrate layer thicknessor a one or more neutral mechanical surface adjusting layers, orotherwise spatially modulating a mechanical property of a substratelayer or a one or more neutral mechanical surface adjusting layers suchas by modulating porosity, extent of cross linking or Young's modulus.

In an aspect, the one or more neutral mechanical surface adjustinglayers is a one or more encapsulating layer. Such encapsulating layersare further useful in device isolation in applications where the deviceis placed in an environment that could otherwise damage deviceoperation. The encapsulating layer optionally has a thickness thatvaries selectively in a lateral direction. As used herein, encapsulatinglayer refers to complete coating of the device, coating of only a topsurface on which the electronic device rests, or portions thereof.

In an aspect, the neutral mechanical surface has a geometrical shape,such as a shape that is planar or non-planar. In another aspect, any ofthe devices including a device made by any of the methods disclosedherein, has an inhomogeneous cross-section.

In an embodiment, the inhomogeneous layer is made by selectivepatterning of the functional layer, substrate layer or an add layer,such as a patterning step comprising transfer printing of a passive oran active electronic component on the functional layer. In one examplethe patterning step comprises selective placement of etch holes in oneor more layers to provide corresponding localized device regions of highfoldability and stretchability. In another example, any of the methodsfurther comprise patterning a layer in one or more lateral directions toprovide a neutral mechanical surface that is coincident or proximate toa functional layer, wherein the functional layer is most sensitive tostrain-induced fracture.

In an embodiment, any of the methods provide a neutral mechanicalsurface that is coincident with a functional layer.

In anther aspect, any of the methods and devices are described in termsof a mechanical characteristic, such as foldability. In an aspect, themethod provides a functional layer that is capable of folding to aradius of curvature of 1 to 5 mm or greater without adversely degradingelectronic performance and without mechanical failure.

In an aspect, any of the methods disclosed herein relate to a devicecomprising a plurality of functional layers and substrate layersseparating the functional layers, wherein the number of functionallayers is greater than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to 20.

Any of the methods provided herein, in an aspect, relate to making anultrathin device, such as a device having a thickness that is less thanor equal to 10 μm. Any of the substrates disclosed herein comprise PDMS.

In an embodiment, the functional layer comprises electronic devicecomponents on which the stretchable and foldable electronic devicerelies. In an aspect, the device component comprises one or more of thestretchable components disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/851,182 and is made by one or more of the processes disclosedtherein. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/851,182 is specificallyincorporated by reference for the stretchable components, devices, andrelated processes for making such stretchable devices and components ofuse in making geometrically wavy or bent functional layers. In anaspect, the device comprises a plurality of functional layers, such asgreater than 2, greater than 8, or between 2 and 20, for example.

Also provided are methods of making an electronic device having a curvedsurface by providing a multilayer device comprising a substrate layer, afunctional layer and a one or more neutral mechanical surface adjustinglayer, wherein the functional layer is supported by a substrate layer,with at least one layer of the multilayer having a property that isspatially inhomogeneous, wherein the spatially inhomogeneous propertypositions a neutral mechanical surface that is coincident or proximateto a functional layer. The multilayer device may be made by any of theprocesses disclosed herein. Because the multilayer device is foldableand bendable, the conformal wrapping of a curvilinear surface with themultilayer device provides an electronic device having a correspondinglycurved surface. Because of the bendability, stretchability andfoldability of the devices provided herein, any curved surface ofarbitrary shape is compatible with these processes, including but notlimited to an arbitrary curvilinear surface, a hemispherical or acylindrical surface. In one example, the device is a hemisphericaloptical imager or an electronic eye. In addition, sophisticated camerashaving curved geometries that provide comparable or improved imagecapture and rendering compared to conventional planar-configured camerasare provided. Such cameras, having good sensitivity and operatingcharacteristics can be used in a number of target applications, such asfor retinal implants, for example.

In an embodiment, methods are provided for making thin sheets of anelectronic device, such as an ultrathin flexible and foldable circuit orCMOS circuit. One example of the method is providing a carrier layersurface, coating at least a portion of the carrier layer surface with asacrificial layer, attaching a substrate layer to the sacrificial layer,wherein the substrate layer supports at least a component of theelectronic device, patterning a plurality of sacrificial layer accessopenings through the substrate layer, and releasing the substrate layerfrom the carrier layer surface by introducing a sacrificial-removingmaterial to the sacrificial layer via the access openings, therebyobtaining a foldable electronic device. In an aspect, the circuit isultrathin, such as less than 10 μm, less than 5 μm or less than 2 μm.Any sacrificial layer material may be used, such as sacrificial layersthat are dissolvable by introducing a solvent through the accessopenings. For example, a sacrificial layer that is PMMA can be dissolvedwith acetone to provide a free-standing sheet that is bendable. Ingeneral, thinner sheets are capable of higher bending.

In an aspect the sacrificial layer comprises PMMA and thesacrificial-removing material is a PMMA solvent. In another aspect, thefoldable electronic device is ultrathin.

In another aspect, the method of making a foldable electronic devicefurther comprises conformally contacting the released substrate layerwith an elastomeric stamp having a first level of strain to bond one ormore components to said stamp and applying a force to the elastomericstamp that generates a change in a strain of the stamp from the firstlevel to a second level of strain different than the first level. Thechange in the level of strain in the stamp from the first level to thesecond level causes the one or more components to bend, therebygenerating a one or more stretchable components each having a first endand second end that are bonded to the substrate and a central regionprovided in a bent configuration. In an embodiment, the bonding stepcomprises the step of generating a pattern of bond and non-bond regionson the component, the stamp surface, or both the component and the stampsurface to generate a spatial pattern of components that are bent. In anaspect, the device is a circuit sheet.

In an embodiment, instead of a free-standing embodiment, the releasedelectronic device may be processed to obtain a wavy configuration. Oneexample of such a method is, as provided in U.S. Pub. No. 2008/0157235,conformally contacting the released substrate layer with an elastomericstamp having a first level of strain to bond one or more components tothe stamp, and applying a force to the elastomeric stamp that generatesa change in a strain of the stamp from a first level to a second levelof strain different than the first level, wherein the change in thelevel of strain in the stamp from the first level to the second levelcauses the one or more components to bend, thereby generating a one ormore stretchable components each having a first end and second end thatare bonded to the substrate and a central region provided in a bentconfiguration. This process is one means for providing electronicdevices having localized regions that are relatively highly stretchableby geometric construction of wavy features. To facilitate controlledregions of bonding, an adhesive is patterned on one or both the stampsurface of the component.

In another aspect, provided are methods of making foldable electronicdevices by using anchor and support structure to facilitatehigh-fidelity lift-off of printable elements such as an array ofelectronic components or pattern of elements (e.g., semiconductor).“High-fidelity” refers to greater than about 90% lift-off, greater than95% or greater than 97% removal of printable elements, and relatedtransfer thereof to a desired receiving substrate. This process isparticularly suited for those applications where a sacrificial layer isdissolved in an etching solution to minimize loss of printable elementsto the solution and/or decrease unwanted adhesive loss due to adhesionbetween the printable element and the underlying support substratewafer. In this aspect, one method is providing a functional layer on asupporting substrate surface, wherein the functional layer comprises anarray of electronic devices, etching one or more access openings in thefunctional layer, casting a polymeric material against the functionallayer and access openings, wherein the cast polymer in the accessopenings generates anchors that facilitate high-fidelity lift-off of thearray from the supporting substrate surface, and contacting anelastomeric stamp with the polymeric material, and removing theelastomeric stamp in a direction away from the supporting substrate toremove the polymeric material from the substrate and thereby removingthe array anchored to the polymeric material from the supportingsubstrate. “Array” is used to refer to a plurality of spatially varyingelements or a continuous thin film layer having distinctly-shapedelements within the layer.

In an embodiment of this aspect the access openings are etch holes.Optionally, the method further comprises printing the removed array ofdevices to a device substrate surface. In an embodiment, the process isrepeated to make a multilayer electronic device. Any of the methodsdisclosed herein are optionally for a printed device that is a GaAsmultilayer solar cell.

In an embodiment, the method relates to printing electronic devices orcomponents thereof having a planar geometry to a curved surface. Forexample, the planar geometry device can be incorporated within afoldable device made by a process of the present invention and thereintransferred to a curvilinear surface. In one aspect, the relaxed shapeof a transfer stamp corresponds to the shape of a device substrate towhich the devices on the curved stamp is transferred, such as a transferelement or stamp that is cast against a curved receiving substrate towhich the electronic device or component thereof is transferred. Oneexample of a method is providing a device on a substantially planarsubstrate surface, providing an elastomeric stamp having a curvilineargeometry, deforming the elastomeric stamp to provide a substantiallyflat stamp surface, contacting the substantially flat stamp surface withthe device on the substrate surface, and removing the device from thesubstrate surface by lifting the stamp in a direction that is away fromthe substrate, thereby transferring the component from the substratesurface to the substantially flat stamp surface, and relaxing theelastomeric stamp, thereby transforming the substantially flat stampsurface to a surface having a curved geometry.

In another aspect, the invention is a device for transforming a curvedsurface to substantially planar surface. “Substantially planar” refersto a contact surface that has a maximum deviation less than 10%, lessthan 5% or less than 1% from truly planar. The device optional comprisesa holder for securably receiving an elastomeric stamp, and a forcegenerator operably connected to the holder for generating a force on asecurably received elastomeric stamp, the force capable of substantiallyflattening the curvilinear stamp. Any means for flattening the surfacemay be used. In one example, a tensioning stage that is adjusted toadjust the footprint area defined by the holder provides thecorresponding geometry. The geometry of the holder may be selecteddepending on the geometry of the curved surface. For ahemispherically-curved surface, the footprint area may be circular toprovide a radial force to flatten the hemispherical surface. A partiallycylindrically-shaped surface may have a uniaxial force generator with arectangular footprint area to flatten the curved surface.

The device optionally further comprises a vertical translator operablyconnected to the holder for establishing conformal contact between thesecurably received elastomeric stamp and an electronic component on asubstantially flat substrate. In an aspect, the holder has a circulargeometry. In an aspect the force generator comprises a tensioning stageoperably connected to the holder. In an aspect the tensioning stagecomprises a plurality of paddle arms for securing the elastomeric stampto the holder and for transmitting a radially-directed force to flattenthe curved surface.

In another aspect, the invention is stretchable and foldable deviceshaving a support layer, wherein the layer is elastomeric, a functionallayer supported by the support layer, and a one or more neutralmechanical surface adjusting layer, wherein at least one or more of anyof the layers has a property that is spatially inhomogenous, therebygenerating a neutral mechanical surface coincident or proximate to thefunctional layer.

In an aspect, the inhomogeneous property is selected from one or more ofYoung's modulus, layer thickness, spatially patterned add layer, recessfeature, functional layer element placement, and functional layergeometry.

In an aspect, the device is selected from the group consisting of anintegrated circuit; semiconductor; transistor; diode; logic gate; arraysof electronic components; and an optical system.

In an aspect, the functional layer may have an array of nanoribbons,such as nanoribbons that are buckled with ends bonded to the substrateor a rigid island (such as a contact pad for receiving an electronicdevice) and middle region that is not bonded. This imparts furtherstretchability to the functional layer.

In another embodiment, the invention is a method of making astretchable, bendable and/or foldable electronic device on a range ofunconventional substrates. The devices can be high performance and areachieved by use of a strategically placed strain isolation layer thatrelieves otherwise undue strains and stresses on the electronic device,and specifically on a functional layer of the device that is vulnerableto strain-induced failure. In an aspect, the method comprises coating areceiving substrate having a first Young's modulus with an isolationlayer having a second Young's modulus, the isolation layer having areceiving surface for receiving the electronic device, and the secondYoung's modulus is less than the first Young's modulus. In anembodiment, the isolation layer is a polymer or an elastomer. Theelectronic device is provided on a support substrate in a printableconfiguration. A “printable electronic device” refers to an electronicdevice or a component thereof (e.g., circuits, CMOS circuit,interconnects, device islands, semiconductor elements/layers,transistors, logic circuits and arrays thereof) capable of transfer fromone substrate to another substrate, such as by contact transferprinting, for example. The printable electronic device is transferredfrom the support substrate to the isolation layer receiving surface,such as by contact transfer printing. The isolation layer isolates atleast a portion of the transferred electronic device from an appliedstrain, such as a strain applied to the device's receiving substrate.

In an aspect, the method is used to provide electronic devices, andcomponents thereof, on an unconventional substrate including, but notlimited to, a receiving substrate that is fabric, vinyl, leather, latex,spandex, paper, for example. In this aspect, high performance electroniccircuits can be incorporated into a number of different applicationsranging from gloves, clothing, building materials such as windows,roofs, wallpaper, manufacturing systems and other applications requiringelectronics in a curvilinear geometry and/or a repetitively strainedsystem. In an embodiment, the substrate comprises fabric. In anotheraspect, the method relates to more conventional substrate materials suchas polymers, inorganic polymers, organic polymers, semiconductormaterials, elastomers, wafers, ceramics, glass, or metals.

In an aspect the polymer comprises PDMS. In an aspect, the isolationlayer Young's modulus (“second Young's modulus”) is described relativeto the receiving substrate Young's modulus (“first Young's modulus”),such as a ratio of first Young's modulus to second Young's modulus thatis greater than or equal to about 10 (e.g., the isolation layer has aYoung's modulus that is at least ten times less than the Young's modulusof the receiving substrate). In an aspect, the isolation layer has aYoung's modulus less than or equal to 5 MPa, less than or equal to 1MPa, between 0.01 MPa and 100 MPa, or between about 0.1 MPa and 5 MPa.In an aspect, the isolation layer has a thickness that is less than orequal to 2 mm, less than or equal to 200 μm, less than or equal to 100μm or less than or equal to 20 μm. In an aspect, the isolation layer hasa thickness selected from a range that is between 10 μm and 2 mm,between 40 μm and 200 μm or between 50 μm and 150 μm.

In an embodiment, the methods and devices described herein relate toproviding a certain level of strain isolation. In an aspect, theisolation layer provides at least 20% or greater, or 90% or greaterstrain isolation compared to a corresponding system without the strainisolation layer. In an aspect, the upper limit of strain isolation is avalue that is practicably achievable. In an aspect, the strain isolationon a strain-sensitive component is less than or equal to about a factorof 100 compared to systems without the strain isolation layer (e.g., upto about 99% strain isolation).

In an aspect the printable electronic device is one component of anelectronic device, such as a circuit is one part of an electronic devicehaving additional circuitry or other components to form the overallelectronic device. In an aspect the component comprises a plurality ofinterconnects, such as a plurality of interconnects having a curvedgeometry, with the interconnects operably connected to strain-sensitiveregions such as device islands, for example. The curve may be in plane,out of plane, or a combination thereof with respect to the isolationlayer receiving surface.

In an embodiment, the isolation layer at least partially penetrates thereceiving substrate. Such penetration may be useful for applicationswhere it is desirable to have a higher adhesive force between theisolation layer and the underlying substrate, such as in situationswhere the mechanical strain and stresses are relatively high, therebyelevating the risk of delamination during operation. In an aspect, thereceiving substrate has a surface texture to increase contact areabetween the isolation layer and the receiving substrate. “Surfacetexture” is used broadly to refer to any technique that functionallyresults in increased surface area. For example, the substrate may haverelief features or other surface roughness, either intrinsically orextrinsically. In an aspect, the receiving substrate has pores, whereinthe pores facilitate penetration of the isolation layer into thereceiving substrate, such as a receiving substrate having a surfaceporosity that is greater than or equal to 10%, greater than or equal to5%, or greater than or equal to 1%, or between about 1% and 10%. Percentporosity refers to the percentage of the total surface area having apore or an opening. In another aspect, the receiving substrate comprisesfibers, thereby facilitating penetration of the polymer into thereceiving substrate. In an embodiment of this aspect, at least a portionof the fibers are embedded in the polymer layer, such as at least aportion of the fibers closer to the substrate surface that arecompletely embedded in polymer that has penetrated the substratesurface.

Any of the devices and methods disclosed herein optionally include anencapsulation layer, such as an encapsulation layer that partiallycovers portions of the device or that completely encapsulates thedevice. In an aspect, the encapsulation layer has a selected Young'smodulus, such as a Young's modulus that is less than the receivingsubstrate Young's modulus or less than the isolation layer Young'smodulus. In an aspect, the encapsulation layer has a Young's modulusthat is inhomogeneous. In this aspect, an “inhomogeneous Young'smodulus” refers to a Young's modulus that spatially varies, such as byintroduction of features (e.g., relief features), or selectivepositioning of other structures on a surface of or within theencapsulation layer.

In another embodiment, the invention is a stretchable and foldableelectronic device, such as devices made by any of the methods disclosedherein, including a combination of methods. For example, methodsutilizing neutral mechanical plane mechanics may be combined withstrain-isolation layers that are thin layers of polymer to furtherimprove electronic device mechanics.

In one embodiment, the stretchable and foldable electronic devicecomprises a receiving substrate, an isolation layer that at leastpartially coats one surface of the receiving substrate, and anelectronic device that is at least partially supported by the isolationlayer. The isolation layer is configured so that the electronic device(such as a functional layer thereof) experiences a strain isolation,such as a strain isolation that is reduced by at least 20% or at least90%, compared to the strain in a device without the isolation layer. Inan aspect, the isolation layer has thickness less than or equal to 2 mmand a Young's modulus less than or equal to 100 MPa. Examples of usefuldevices include electronic devices or functional layers having bondregions with the isolation layer, such as covalent bonds correspondingto backsides of device islands coated with an adhesive oradhesive-precursor. For example, the back-side of an active deviceisland may be coated with a bilayer of Cr/SiO₂ to form covalent bondscomprising Si—O—Si bonds between an isolation layer made of PDMS polymerand the electronic device bond regions. Accordingly, non-bond regionsrefer to regions where the adhesive force (per unit contact area)between the electronic device and the isolation layer is substantiallyless than that in the bond region. For example, the non-bond regions maynot be coated with an adhesive or adhesive precursor (such as Cr/SiO₂).The non-bond region optionally corresponds to bent interconnects thatconnect relatively rigid adjacent device islands that arestrain-sensitive. Such bent configuration further isolates functionallayers, such as relatively rigid device islands, from strain orstrain-induced stresses. Any of the devices optionally further comprisean encapsulation layer, such as an encapsulation layer having aninhomogeneous Young's modulus.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1. A Overview of the fabrication process for ultrathin CMOScircuits that exploit silicon nanoribbons, and enable extreme levels ofbendability (third frame from the top) or fully reversiblestretchability/compressibility (bottom frame on the right). B-D Opticalimages circuits on the carrier wafer and doped nanoribbons (inset) B ona thin rod after removal from this carrier C and in a wavy configurationon PDMS D.

FIG. 2A. Wavy Si-CMOS inverters on PDMS, formed with various levels ofprestrain, ∈_(pre). (left: ∈_(pre)=2.7%, center: ∈_(pre)=3.9%, right:∈_(pre)=5.7%) FIG. 2B. Structural configuration determined by full,three dimensional finite element modeling of a system formed with∈_(pre)=3.9% (left) and perspective scanning electron micrograph of asample fabricated with a similar condition (right). FIG. 2C. Opticalimages of wavy Si-CMOS inverters under tensile strains along the x and ydirections. FIG. 2D. Measured (red and black) and simulated (blue)transfer characteristics of wavy inverters (left), and n and p channelMOSFETs (solid and dashed lines, respectively, in the left inset).Measured (solid circles) and simulated (open squares) inverter thresholdvoltages for different applied strains along x and y (right).

FIG. 3A. Optical image of an array of stretchable, wavy three stage CMOSring oscillators (top left) and magnified views of a typical oscillatorat different applied strains oriented along the direction of the redarrow (right frames). Measured time and frequency domain responses of anoscillator at different applied strains. FIG. 3B. Circuit diagram of adifferential amplifier (top left); output characteristics for variousstrain values (bottom left); optical images of a wavy differentialamplifier in its as-fabricated state (top right) and under appliedstrain in a direction along the red arrow (bottom right).

FIG. 4A. Image of a ‘foldable’ ultrathin Si-CMOS circuit that uses anencapsulating layer of PI, wrapped around the edge of a microscope coverslip. The inset shows a coarse cross sectional schematic view. FIG. 4B.Images of twisted (top) and bent (bottom inset) wavy Si-CMOS circuitthat uses a dual neutral plane design. The inset at the top shows acoarse cross sectional view. Optical micrographs of inverters at thecenter (bottom left) and edge (bottom right) of the sample in thetwisted configuration shown in the top frame.

FIG. 5. Schematic diagram for circuit preparation procedures.

FIG. 6. Voltage transfer curve for ultrathin device attached on thinrod.

FIG. 7A. Wavelength and amplitude measurement of wavy ultrathin devicesusing surface profilometry (Sloan Dektak³); thin metal electrode part(left), thick device part for pmos (center) and nmos (right). FIG. 7B.Schematic diagram of multilayer stacks. FIG. 7C and FIG. 7D. Positionsof the neutral plane for p-MOSFET and n-MOSFET regions and the metalinterconnect. FIG. 7E and FIG. 7F. Positions of the neutral plane forp-MOSFET and n-MOSFET regions and the metal interconnect with PI cappinglayer.

FIGS. 8A-8B. Maximum strains versus the prestrain in various layers ofthe circuits. FIG. 8A. Metal interconnect, and FIG. 8B. p-MOSFET andn-MOSFET regions.

FIG. 9A. Optical images for stretching tests in the y direction. FIG.9B. Optical images for stretching tests in the x direction. FIG. 9C.Transfer curves and mobility changes for NMOS (left) and PMOS (right)devices at different applied strain values. FIG. 9D. IV curves for NMOS(left) and PMOS (right) at 0% strain; solid lines are for measurementand dot lines are for simulation.

FIG. 10A. Optical images of fatigue tests. FIG. 10B. Voltage transfercurves (left) and variation of gain values during the fatigue test.

FIG. 11. Image of ultrathin wavy differential amplifiers; Magnifiedimage of differential amplifier before applying strain (inset).

FIG. 12A. Magnified view of inverter before and after folding. FIG. 12B.Voltage transfer characteristics of folded inverter. FIG. 12C.Cross-sectional view of folded metal interconnect region. FIG. 12D.Schematic wavy structure with neutral mechanical plane.

FIG. 13. Finite element simulation modeling and process.

FIG. 14. Schematic illustration of steps for using compressible siliconfocal plane arrays and hemispherical, elastomeric transfer elements tofabricate electronic eye cameras. The top frame shows such a transferelement, fabricated in PDMS by casting and curing against anappropriately designed template. Stretching in the radial directionforms a flat drumhead membrane in which all points in the PDMS are intension. Lifting a prefabricated focal plane array and associatedelectronics from a source wafer onto the surface of this drumhead, andthen allowing the PDMS to relax back to its initial shape transforms theplanar device layout into a hemispherical shape. Transfer printing ontoa matching hemispherical glass substrate coated with a thin layer of aphotocurable adhesive (pink), adding a hemispherical cap with integratedimaging lens and interfacing to external control electronics (not shownhere) completes the camera system.

FIGS. 15A-15D. Mechanics of compressible silicon and elastomericelements suitable for planar to hemispherical transformation. FIG. 15A.Optical image of a compressible silicon structure on a PDMS hemisphere(center; a tall, raised rim lies around the perimeter). The siliconcovers the central region of the hemisphere, and appears light grey inthis image; the straight edges of the overall structure can be seenclearly (arrow). This system consists of 163, 216 square elements ofsilicon (20×20 μm; 50 nm thick) connected by ribbons of silicon (20×5μm; 50 nm thick) in a 16.14×16.14 mm square array, initially formed onthe planar surface of a silicon-on-insulator wafer. FIG. 15B. Scanningelectron micrograph (SEM) of a small region of the sample shown in FIG.15A. The out-of-plane deformations in the connecting ribbons that yieldthe arc shapes visible here provide the compressibility necessary toaccommodate the planar to hemispherical transformation. FIG. 15C.Experimentally measured map (black dots) of spatial positions of siliconelements (500×500 μm; 1.2 μm thick) across a similar hemisphericalarray, with coarser features and fewer elements. The overlaid meshrepresents predictions for the planar to hemispherical transformationfrom the analytical mechanics model; the mesh nodes are the predictedspatial positions of the array and the segment colors indicate thepercentage change of the distance between neighboring elements acrossthe array, compared to those designed in the planar configuration. Theresults indicate less than a ˜3% variation, from minimum to maximum.FIG. 15D. SEM highlighting a single element in the array, withtheoretical results for the arc shapes and the distribution of strains,overlaid in color.

FIGS. 16A-16E. Layouts and electrical properties of a hemisphericalelectronic eye camera based on single crystalline silicon photodetectorsand current blocking p-n junction diodes in a compressible, passivematrix layout. FIG. 16A. Exploded view schematic illustration of thelayout of the silicon, metal, and polymer associated with a single unitcell in the array. The blocking diode (BD) is the in the center of thecell; the photodetector (PD) is in a serpentine geometry around the BD.FIG. 16B. Electrical properties and optical micrograph of a unit cell.The data were measured by contacting the row and column electrodes thataddress this position in the hemispherical array, via pads at theperimeter of the system. The data (red: exposed to light; black: in thedark) show high contrast response to light exposure. Equally important,the reverse bias current and leakage from other pixels in the array areboth minimal, as illustrated in the inset on the right. FIG. 16C.Photograph of the array integrated on a hemispherical glass substrate(main frame), optical micrograph of a part of the array (upper rightinset) and circuit diagram showing the BDs (black), PDs (red) andelectrode crossovers (arcs) in a 2×2 section of the system. FIG. 16D.Photograph of a hemispherical PDMS transfer element with a compressiblefocal plane array on its surface. FIG. 16E. SEM image of a portion ofthe array in FIG. 16D, illustrating the compressible interconnects.

FIGS. 17A-17F. Photographs of a hemispherical electronic eye camera andrepresentative output image. FIG. 17A. Photograph of a hemisphericalfocal plane array (center) mounted on a printed circuit board (green),with external connection to a computer (not shown) through a ribboncable (upper left). FIG. 17B. Photograph of the camera after integrationwith a transparent (for ease of viewing) hemispherical cap with asimple, single component imaging lens (top). FIG. 17C. Close-upphotograph of the system in FIG. 17B, as viewed directly through theimaging lens. For the parameters used here, this lens magnifies thefocal plane array to show a small, 3×3 cluster of pixels. FIG. 17D andFIG. 17E. Grayscale images acquired using FIG. 17D, planar and FIG. 17E,hemispherical cameras with 16×16 pixels as plotted on surfaces thatmatch those of the focal plane arrays. The bottom image in the planarcase shows a photograph, from a commercial 10 MPixel digital camera, ofthe image projected on a planar screen, as taken along the optical axisand from behind the sample. Geometric, pincushion distortions areobserved for this optics setup. FIG. 17F. Greyscale images of the firsttwo rows in an eye chart acquired using a hemispherical camera with16×16 pixels as displayed on a hemispherical surface matching thedetector surface (top) and projected onto a plane (bottom). The imageson the left and right were acquired without scanning and with scanning(from −2 to 2° in the 0 and φ directions in 0.4° increments),respectively. The axes scales are in mm and are identical in each image.

FIG. 18. Process flow for efficient removal of the focal plane arrayfrom the SOI wafer. The key steps are d-h, in which a spin cast layer ofpolymer (polyimide for the results presented here) penetrates throughpredefined etch holes to keep most of the array suspended from theunderlying silicon handle wafer after HF undercut etching of the buriedoxide. This strategy avoids stiction that would otherwise frustrate theability to lift off the array. The posts formed by the polymer preventunwanted slipping or wrinkling of the array during the HF etching.

FIG. 19. Schematic illustration of the layout of the focal plane array,with key dimensions indicated. The light brown, dark brown and greyregions correspond to polyimide, Cr/Au and silicon, respectively.

FIG. 20. Photographs (top frames) and optical micrographs (bottomframes) of a planar camera that uses processing approaches, focal planearray designs, interconnect schemes and other features similar to thoseused for the hemispherical camera. This system was used to evaluatevarious aspects of the designs and fabrication techniques. These imagesprovide views of certain features that are difficult to show clearly inthe hemispherical geometry, due to limited depth of focus associatedwith optical microscopes.

FIG. 21. Optical images of the mounting jig used for casting and curingthe hemispherical PDMS transfer elements.

FIG. 22. Cross sectional schematic illustration of the layout of thehemispherical PDMS transfer element, with key dimensions.

FIG. 23. Top view schematic illustration of the layout of thehemispherical PDMS transfer element, with key dimensions in theas-fabricated and radially tensioned configurations. An overlay in thecenter portion of this image shows the layout of the passive matrixarray, illustrated to scale.

FIG. 24. Computer aided design drawing of the radial tensioning stage.The hemispherical PDMS element mounts in the center. The paddle armsmove radially to expand the hemisphere into a planar drumhead shape.

FIG. 25. Photograph of radial tensioning stage and PDMS transfer element(left frame). PDMS element mounted on the paddle arms of the stage(center frame), corresponding to the region of the image on the leftindicated with a dashed line box. The right frame shows the PDMS elementin its flat, drumhead configuration with a focal plane array on itssurface.

FIG. 26. Photograph of a hemispherical PDMS transfer element with acompressible focal plane array on its surface. The SEM shows of aportion of the array, illustrating the compressible interconnects.

FIG. 27. Procedures for evaluating the spatial distributions of thepixel elements in a hemispherical focal plane array on a glasssubstrate. The process starts with a photograph of the system (topframe) that is then converted into a binary format (center frame) andthen manipulated with imaging processing software to locate the spatialcoordinates of the centers of the pixels.

FIG. 28. Cross sectional schematic illustration and computer aideddesign drawing of the spherical cap and imaging lens, with keydimensions.

FIG. 29. Photograph of the mux/demux system for image acquisition.

FIG. 30. Circuit diagram for the electronics for image acquisition.

FIG. 31. Photographs of the optical setup used for image acquisition.

FIG. 32. Screen capture for the software interface used for imaging.

FIG. 33. Schematic illustration of the mapping of silicon elements ontoa hemisphere. A a PDMS hemispherical cap of radius R; B the cap is firststretched to an approximately flat plate of radius r₁; C the flat plateis further stretched to a flat plate with radius r₂; D the siliconelements are transferred onto the plate; E the plate with Si elements isreleased to an approximately flat plate of radius r₁′; F further releaseleads to a new hemisphere of radius R′.

FIGS. 34A-34D. Finite element analysis of the mapping from a hemispherestate to an approximately flat state. FIG. 34A. The original mesh forthe PDMS hemispherical cap; FIG. 34B, the deformed mesh for the justflattened plate; FIG. 34C, the strain distribution in the flattenedplate; FIG. 34D, comparison of the mapping between finite elementresults and analytical solution.

FIGS. 35A-35B. The deformed shape of FIG. 35A, the flat, relaxed PDMSand silicon and FIG. 35B, the spherical, relaxed PDMS and silicon ascalculated by finite element analysis.

FIG. 36. The images obtained by the finite element method of the mappingprocess.

FIG. 37. Analytical model of A the shape of the compressed connectionsand B strain in the silicon elements.

FIG. 38 illustrates a process for making a foldable and pop-upstretchable electronic device by A thermal transfer; and B mechanicaldeformation. Photographs of the devices are provided in C-E.

FIG. 39 summarizes functional characteristics of stretchable devicearrays for various strains.

FIG. 40 are photographs of devices made by the processes disclosedherein undergoing twisting-type deformation.

FIG. 41 Schematic comparison and overview of the fabrication process forwavy interconnected CMOS inverters using doped silicon nano-materials; ASheet-type wavy inverters B Ultrathin CMOS islands connected with wavyPI bridges. C Ultrathin nMOS and pMOS devices connected with wavy PI andmetal interconnects.

FIG. 42 A Image of CMOS inverters interconnected with wavy polyimidebridges. B Optical images of stretching tests. C Voltage transfercharacteristics of wavy CMOS inverters (left) and variation of inverterthreshold voltage for each applied strain (right); inset shows log scaletransfer curve for individual devices.

FIG. 43 A Image of CMOS inverters with metal and PI wavy bridges BMagnified view of wavy interconnected inverter with SiO₂ capping (topleft) and with PI capping (top right) C Magnified view of electrodeedge, which corresponds to white dotted box in FIG. 3B, for SiO₂ capping(top) and PI capping (bottom); right cartoons are schematics forlocation of neutral mechanical plane for wavy interconnects

FIG. 44 A Optical images of stretching test. B Profile changes due toPoisson effect on applying external strain in y (left) and x (right)direction. C Voltage transfer characteristics of wavy interconnectedCMOS inverters (left) and variation of inverter threshold voltage foreach applied strain. (right).

FIG. 45 A Image of wavy interconnected three stage ring oscillators. BImages of stretching test. C Oscillation characteristics (left: ringoscillation at different strain values, right: Fourier transform ofoscillation from time domain to frequency domain).

FIG. 46 Schematic illustration of GaAs MESFET processing flow.

FIG. 47 Flow chart summary of GaAs MESFET processing.

FIG. 48 Pick-up of GaAs elements by PDMS (inset is the donor sourcesubstrate after pick-up).

FIG. 49 Transfer of GaAs from stamp of FIG. 48 to PI coated glasssubstrate.

FIG. 50 Photograph of donor after cleaning up remaining photoresist, andready for process repetition for the second functional GaAs layer.

FIG. 51 Metallization and device characterization (for the first layerof the multilayer).

FIG. 52 Photograph of a compressible silicon structure on a PDMShemisphere (center; a tall, raised rim lies around the perimeter) (topimage). The silicon covers the central region of the hemisphere, andappears light grey in this image; the straight edges of the overallstructure can be seen clearly (arrow). This system comprises 163, 216square elements of silicon (20 by 20 μm; 50 nm thick) connected byribbons of silicon (20 by 4 μm; 50 nm thick) in a 16.14 by 16.14 mmsquare array, initially formed on the planar surface of asilicon-on-insulator wafer. A scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of asmall region of the sample is shown in the bottom image. Theout-of-plane deformations in the connecting ribbons that yield the arcshapes visible here provide the compressibility necessary to accommodatethe planar to hemispherical transformation.

FIG. 53 Enhanced imaging in hemispherical cameras compared to planarcameras. High resolution images of a, the University of Illinois “I”logo and b, a drawing of an eye acquired with a hemispherical camera(insets on right show the original images scanned from the transparencyfilms). c, Optics setup used for imaging and sample ray traces showing apattern of rays passing through the image and lens onto the detectorscreens (optimal focal surface and planar camera). d, Ray tracingpredictions of the optimal focal surface (green circles—calculated focalpoints, green curve—parabolic fit), the detector surface of thehemispherical camera (blue curve), and a planar camera (red curve). e,High-resolution photographs of projected images on a planar screenpositioned at varying distances from the lens. The left and right imageswere acquired at 14.40 and 16.65 mm from the lens, respectively, anddemonstrate a shift in optimal focus as a function of detector position.A series of such images were used to estimate the optimal curvilinearfocal surface as shown in d, as black squares. f, g, High resolutionimages acquired with f, planar and g, hemispherical cameras positionedat 16.65 mm (along the optical axis) from the lens. All axes scales arein mm, except for g which is plotted versus pixel number, and the axesnormal to the image planes represent the z-directions (optical axis).

FIG. 54 The character “E” imaged by each pixel in the hemisphericalcamera when scanned over the entire projected image (scans from −40 to40° in the θ and φ directions, 1.0° increments). The images covervarying portions of the hemispherical surface and are displayed asprojected onto a planar surface.

FIG. 55 A drawing of an eye imaged by each pixel in the hemisphericalcamera when scanned over the entire projected image (scans from −40 to40° in the θ and φ directions, 0.5° increments). The images covervarying portions of the hemispherical surface and are displayed asprojected onto a planar surface.

FIG. 56 High-resolution photographs on a planar screen positioned atvarying distances from the lens. The images were acquired between 12.15(image #1, left) and 18.00 mm (image #13, right) from the lens anddemonstrate the curvilinear nature of the optimal focal surface.

FIG. 57 Optoelectronic response of the 16 by 16 pixel photodetectorarray in a hemispherical camera. The current responses at an appliedbias of 4 V have been measured for all the pixels at three differentlight intensities, including a, brightest laser light (514.5 nm), b,approximately one-tenth of the bright case, and c, complete darkness.The histograms on the left show the distribution of pixels with a givencurrent response, while the color-maps on the right show the mapping ofpixels with a given response in the hemispherical camera.

FIG. 58 Optoelectronic response of the 16 by 16 pixel photodetectorarray in a planar camera. a, Electrical properties of a unit cell. Thedata were measured by contacting the row and column electrodes thataddress this position in the hemispherical array, via pads at theperimeter of the system. The data (red: exposed to light; black: in thedark) show high contrast response to light exposure. The currentresponses at an applied bias of 4 V have been measured for all thepixels at two different light intensities, including b, bright case witha sheet of white paper backlit with halogen lamps and optically filteredto 620˜700 nm wavelengths (identical setup used to generate FIG. 53e-g), and c, complete darkness. The histograms on the left show thedistribution of pixels with a given current response, while thecolourmaps on the right show the mapping of pixels with a given responsein the hemispherical camera.

FIG. 59 Photographs of projected images acquired with the fabricated 16by 16 planar camera at varying distances from the lens. The images wereacquired between 12.15 (image #1, left) and 18.00 mm (image #14, right)from the lens and demonstrate the curvilinear nature of the optimalfocal surface.

FIG. 60 Photographs of projected images acquired with the fabricated 16by 16 hemispherical camera at varying distances from the lens. Theimages were acquired between 13.95 (image #1, left) and 19.80 mm (image#14, right) from the lens.

FIG. 61 Experimentally measured map (black dots) of spatial positions ofsilicon elements (500×500 μm; 1.2 μm thick) across a 16 by 16 array on ahemispherical transfer element. The overlaid coloured mesh representspredictions for the planar to hemispherical transformation from theanalytical mechanics model; the mesh nodes are the predicted spatialpositions of the array and the segment colours indicate the percentagechange of the distance between neighbouring elements across the array,compared to those designed in the planar configuration. The resultsindicate less than a ˜3% variation, from minimum to maximum.

FIG. 62 a Schematic illustration of the fabrication process, includingcartoons of CMOS inverter logic gates with stretchable, ‘wavy’interconnects. Also shown is the strategy of top layer encapsulation tolocate the critical circuit elements near the neutral mechanical planeto avoid cracking. b Image of CMOS inverters with wavy interconnects andbridge structures. c Magnified view of a CMOS inverter with wavyinterconnects. d Three dimensional finite element simulation of themechanics of this system, showing good agreement with experimentalobservation.

FIG. 63 Stretching tests. Transfer characteristics of stretchable CMOSinverters (red and black: experiment, blue: simulation, left) andvariation of inverter threshold voltage for each applied strain (right);the inset shows log scale transfer curves for individual transistors.Current-voltage curves of an nMOS (left) and pMOS (right) transistor;solid and dotted lines correspond to experiment and simulation,respectively.

FIG. 64. a Schematic overview of the fabrication process forrepresentative circuits that accomplish high levels of stretchabilitythrough the use of non-coplanar mesh designs integrated with elastomericsubstrates (For the case shown here, poly(dimethylsiloxane); PDMS). bSEM images of an array of CMOS inverters that result from this process,in an undeformed state (bottom; ˜20% prestrain) and in a configurationcorresponding that results from a complex twisting motion (top). cOptical image of a freely deformed stretchable array of CMOS inverters,highlighting three different classes of deformation: diagonalstretching, twisting and bending. The insets provide SEM images for eachcase (colorized for ease of viewing). FIG. 64D is a close-up view of thedevice configuration.

FIG. 65. a Optical images of stretchable, three stage CMOS ringoscillators with noncoplanar mesh designs, for stretching along thebridges (x and y). b FEM modeling of the strain distributions at the topsurface of the circuit (Top) and at the midpoint of the metal layer(Mid) and bottom surface (Bot). c Electrical characteristics of theoscillators as represented in the time and frequency (inset) domains inthe different strain configurations illustrated in a. Here 0s and 0erefer to 0% strains at the start and end of the testing, respectively.17x and 17y refer to 17% tensile strains along the x and y directionsindicated in a. d Optical images of stretchable CMOS inverters withnon-coplanar mesh designs, for stretching at 45 degrees to thedirections of the bridges (x and y). e FEM simulations of these motions.f Transfer characteristics of the inverters (output voltage, V_(out),and gain as a function of input voltage, V_(in)). 18x and 18y refer to18% tensile strains along the x and y directions indicated in d.

FIG. 66. a Optical images of an array of stretchable CMOS inverters in atwisted configuration (left) and magnified view of a single inverter,illustrating the nature of the deformation (right). b FEM simulation ofthe mechanics of twisting on the bridge structures c SEM image of anarray of stretchable, three stage CMOS ring oscillators in a twistedconfiguration. d Electrical characteristics of the inverters (top; gainand output voltage, V_(out), as a function of input voltage, V_(in)) andoscillators (bottom; output voltage, V_(out), as a function of time) inplanar and twisted states.

FIG. 67. Optical images of an array of stretchable differentialamplifiers in twisted a and planar stretched b layouts. c Tilted viewSEM of a representative amplifier, showing the non-coplanar layout.Optical images under stretching along the x and y directions d, andcorresponding electrical output as a function of time for a sinusoidalinput e. f Optical image of a device in a complex deformation mode.Here, 17x and 17y refer to 17% tensile strains along the x and ydirections indicated in d.

FIG. 68. a SEM image of an array of stretchable CMOS inverters withnon-coplanar bridges that have serpentine layouts (left) and magnifiedview (right). b Optical images of stretching test in the x and ydirections. c FEM simulation before (35% pre-strain) and afterstretching (70% applied strain). d Arrays of inverters on a thin PDMSsubstrate (0.2 mm) (left) and images in unstretched (middle; 90%prestrain) and stretched (right; 140% tensile strain). e Transfercharacteristics and gain for a representative inverter under stretching(left) and plot of gain and voltage at maximum gain (VM) for a similardevice as a function of stretching cycles (right).

FIG. 69. Schematic diagram of multilayer stacks.

FIG. 70. Analytical model of (a) pop up bridges and (b) islands.

FIG. 71. Schematic diagram of island-bridge structure

FIG. 72. Maximum strains of (a) bridges and (b) islands versus thesystem level applied strain for the prestrain of 10.7%.

FIG. 73. Voltage transfer curve of CMOS inverter (a) and IV curves forindividual devices, for nMOS (b) and for pMOS (c).

FIG. 74. A Schematic illustration of an ultrathin silicon circuitfabricated in a serpentine mesh geometry on a handle wafer (left) and anoptical image (right). The inset at the center shows an opticalmicrograph of a CMOS inverter, corresponding to the dotted box in theright frame. B Schematic illustration of the process for transferprinting the circuit after patterned deposition of Cr/SiO2 (left) and anoptical image after transfer (right). The inset at the center shows anoptical micrograph of a transferred CMOS inverter, corresponding to thedotted box on right frame. C Schematic illustration of the bondingbetween the serpentine circuits and PDMS (left). Scanning electronmicrograph of the system in a bent configuration (right). D Current (Id;drain current), voltage (Vd; drain voltage) measurements onrepresentative nMOS (left) and pMOS (right) transistors collected from acircuit similar to those shown in the other frames. The solid and dashedlines correspond to measurement and PSPICE simulation. The labels on thecurves correspond to gate voltages (Vg). The inset in the right frameshows transfer curves plotted on a semi log scale for nMOS (dotted) andpMOS (solid) devices.

FIG. 75. A Optical micrographs (upper frames) of a CMOS inverter circuitunder various levels of tensile strain (upper left) and finite elementmodeling of the corresponding mechanics (lower frames). The colorsindicate peak strains (in percent) in the metal interconnect level ofthe circuit. B Computed ratio of the surface strain in the silicon ofthe system schematically illustrated in the inset as a function ofthickness of this layer (black solid line) and length of the silicon(red dotted line; PDMS thickness is 100 μm for this case). The PDMSprovides strain isolation for the silicon, with increasing effectivenessas the silicon length decreases and the PDMS thickness increases. FIG.75C. Top view of a stretchable and foldable electronic device. FIG. 75Dand FIG. 75E are side views that illustrate partial and completeencapsulation of a foldable and stretchable device with an encapsulationlayer, respectively.

FIG. 76. A Optical image of a folded circuit (left) consisting of anarray of CMOS inverters and scanning electron micrograph (center). Theimages on the right provide views at the folded edge (right top) andside (right bottom). B Optical image of a similar circuit integrated ona fabric substrate coated with a thin layer of PDMS (top) and magnifiedview (top right). The bottom left frame provides a schematicillustration. The bottom right shows transfer curves of a representativeinverter in flat and bent states, and PSPICE simulation (model).

FIG. 77. Scanning electron micrographs of the surfaces of varioussubstrates before coating with PDMS (left) and corresponding tiltedviews of freeze fractured edges after PDMS coating (right) for A vinyl,B leather, C paper and D fabric substrates.

FIG. 78. Optical images of CMOS circuits on finger joints of vinyl A andleather B gloves in released (left) and stretched (right) states. Theinsets provide magnified views. C Voltage transfer curve (left) andcycling test results that show the gain and threshold voltage of theinverter (VM) measured in the flat states after various numbers ofbending cycles (right).

FIG. 79. A Optical images of CMOS inverters on paper, in flat (lefttop), bent (right top), folded (right bottom) and unfolded (left bottom)states. The insets provide magnified views. B Voltage transfer curve(left) and cycling test results that show the gain and threshold voltageof the inverter (VM) measured in the flat states after various numbersof bending cycles (right).

FIG. 80. Schematic illustration of steps for using compressible circuitmesh structures (i.e. arrays of islands interconnected by narrow strips)and elastomeric transfer elements to wrap conformally curvilinearsubstrates with complex shapes, such as the dimpled surface of the golfball. The process begins with fabrication of a transfer element in anelastomer such as poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) by double casting andthermal curing against the object to be wrapped (i.e. the master). Seetop middle frame. Radially stretching the resulting element forms a flatdrumhead membrane in which all points in the PDMS are in tension, withlevels of strain that vary with position. Contacting this stretchedmembrane against a prefabricated circuit in an ultrathin mesh geometryin a planar configuration on a silicon wafer and then peeling it backlifts the circuit onto the membrane. See right frames. Relaxing thetension geometrically transforms the membrane and the circuit on itssurface into the shape of the master. See bottom middle frame. Duringthis process, the interconnection bridges of the mesh adopt non-coplanararc shapes (bottom middle inset), thereby accommodating the compressiveforces in a way that avoids significant strains in the island regions.Coating the target substrate with a thin layer of an adhesive, and thentransferring the non-coplanar circuit mesh onto its surface completesthe process (bottom left).

FIG. 81. Photographs of a silicon circuit mesh wrapped on the surface ofa PDMS transfer element with the surface shape of a golf ball a) andafter contacting this element to the corresponding region of a golf ball(after cutting away the PDMS rim) b). c) and d) Angled-view scanningelectron micrographs of the sample shown in a). The images werecolorized to enhance the contrast between the various regions. The gray,yellow, and blue colors correspond to silicon, polyimide, and PDMS,respectively. e) Simulated strain distribution in the silicon andpolyimide regions at the cross-sectional area highlighted in d).

FIG. 82. Photographs of a silicon circuit mesh on the surface of a PDMStransfer element with a conical shape before a) and after transferprinting to a conical surface b). c) Angled-view scanning electronmicrographs of the sample shown in a) and b). d) and e) Magnifiedangled-view scanning electron micrographs of highlighted area of imagec). The images were colorized to enhance the contrast of the variousregions. The gray, yellow, and blue colors correspond to silicon,polyimide, and PDMS, respectively. e) Simulated distribution of strainin the silicon regions of the circuit and in the underlying PDMStransfer element, corresponding to the system shown in a).

FIG. 83. a) Photograph of a silicon circuit mesh wrapped onto apyramidal substrate. b) and c) Angled-view scanning electron micrographsof the sample shown in a). b) Magnified view of the area indicated bythe box in the left middle region of the image in c). The gray, yellow,and blue colors correspond to silicon, polyimide, and PDMS,respectively. d) Top and cross-sectional views of a linear array ofinterconnected silicon islands on a PDMS substrate subjected, from topto bottom, to low, medium and high levels of compressive strains. e)Plot summarizing mechanical modeling results.

FIG. 84. a) Photograph of a silicon circuit mesh on a convex paraboloidsubstrate. b) and c) Angled-view scanning electron micrographs of thesample shown in a). b) Magnified view of the area indicated by the boxin the center region of c). d) Photograph of a silicon circuit mesh on aconcave paraboloid substrate. e) and f) Angled-view scanning electronmicrographs of the sample shown in d). e) Magnified view of the areaindicated by the box in the lower center region of f). The gray, yellow,and blue colors in the images b), c), e), and f) correspond to silicon,polyimide, and PDMS, respectively.

FIG. 85. a) and b) Photographs of a silicon circuit mesh on a PDMStransfer element with having a complex curved geometry obtained from amodel of a heart. b) Magnified image of a). c) and e) Colorizedangled-view scanning electron micrographs of the sample shown in a). d)and e) provide magnified views of the areas indicated by thecorresponding boxes in c). The gray, yellow, and blue colors correspondto silicon, polyimide, and PDMS, respectively.

FIG. 86. a) Exploded view schematic illustration of the layout of thesilicon, metal, and polymer layers in a unit cell of a silicon circuitmesh test structure. b) Current-voltage characteristics measured bycontacting the continuous metal line (red arrow in a)) and thediscontinuous metal line (black arrow in a)) at the periphery of thearray. The inset shows a top view optical microscope image of arepresentative individual pixel. c) and d) Photographs of the circuitmesh transferred onto the tip of a finger on a plastic substrate withthe shape of a human hand. d) Magnified view of the region indicated bythe box in c). e) Magnified image of the region indicated by the box ind), collected using a scanning focal technique. f) and h) Colorizedangled-view scanning electron micrographs of the sample shown in c). g)and h) Magnified views of areas indicated by the dashed boxes in f). Thegray, yellow, and blue colors correspond to silicon, polyimide, andPDMS, respectively.

FIG. 87. a Schematic illustrations (left) and corresponding opticalimages (right) of a doped silicon, b interconnected arrays of CMOSinverters, c lifted inverters covered with a shadow mask for selectivedeposition of Cr/SiO₂ and d magnified views of an inverter.

FIG. 88. Optical microscope images and maximum principal straindistribution evaluated by FEM simulation for a CMOS inverter with a astandard serpentine interconnect, b an interconnect with large amplitudeand c an interconnect with large amplitude to wavelength ratio, narrowwidth and large number of curves.

FIG. 89. Optical microscope images and maximum principal straindistributions computed by FEM simulation for a CMOS inverter with acoplanar and b non-coplanar structure, c Scanning electron microscopy(SEM) images for FIG. 3B before (left) and after (center and right)applying external strain, d FEM simulation for FIG. 3B before (left) andafter (right) applying external strain.

FIG. 90. a Optical images of a CMOS inverter with non-coplanarserpentine interconnects before and after applying 90% external strainin the x (right) and y (left) direction and b corresponding voltagetransfer curves (left) and cycling test results (right). cCurrent-voltage response and PSPICE simulation result for nMOS (left)and pMOS (right) transistors; the inset shows the transfer curve on asemilog scale. d Optical images and electrical characteristics of adifferential amplifier with non-coplanar serpentine interconnects.

FIG. 91. a Schematic illustration of stretching test procedures for anencapsulated, straight bridge non-coplanar interconnect, b opticalmicroscope images of the structure for the cases of zero strain (top)and maximum stretching before visible cracking (bottom) for noencapsulation (left), soft encapsulation (0.1 MPa, center) and hardencapsulation (1.8 MPa, right), c height of the bridge as a function ofdistance between the two islands determined by experiment, analyticalmodeling and FEM simulation; right bottom graph shows maximum strainbefore cracking estimated by theoretical modeling, d deformationgeometries at maximum stretching before cracking, simulated by FEM.

FIG. 92. Optical microscope images and strain distributions determinedby FEM simulation for zero strain (left), ˜50% strain (center) and ˜110%strain (right), a hard PDMS (modulus ˜1.8 MPa) encapsulation, b softPDMS (modulus ˜0.1 MPa) encapsulation and c uncured PDMS prepolymer(viscous liquid) encapsulation covered by a thin, solid layer of PDMS.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The terms “foldable”, “flexible” and “bendable” are used synonymously inthe present description and refer to the ability of a material,structure, device or device component to be deformed into a curved shapewithout undergoing a transformation that introduces significant strain,such as strain characterizing the failure point of a material,structure, device or device component. In an exemplary embodiment, aflexible material, structure, device or device component may be deformedinto a curved shape without introducing strain larger than or equal toabout 5%, preferably for some applications larger than or equal to about1%, and more preferably for some applications larger than or equal toabout 0.5% in strain-sensitive regions.

“Stretchable” refers to the ability of a material, structure, device ordevice component to be strained without undergoing fracture. In anexemplary embodiment, a stretchable material, structure, device ordevice component may undergo strain larger than about 0.5% withoutfracturing, preferably for some applications strain larger than about 1%without fracturing and more preferably for some applications strainlarger than about 3% without fracturing.

“Functional layer” refers to a device-containing layer that imparts somefunctionality to the device. For example, the functional layer may be athin film such as a semiconductor layer. Alternatively, the functionallayer may comprise multiple layers, such as multiple semiconductorlayers separated by support layers. The functional layer may comprise aplurality of patterned elements, such as interconnects running betweendevice-receiving pads or islands. The functional layer may beheterogeneous or may have one or more properties that are inhomogeneous.“Inhomogeneous property” refers to a physical parameter that canspatially vary, thereby effecting the position of the neutral mechanicalsurface (NMS) within the multilayer device.

“Coincident” refers to a surface such as a NMS that is positioned withinor is adjacent to a layer, such as a functional layer, substrate layer,or other layer. In an aspect, the NMS is positioned to correspond to themost strain-sensitive layer or material within the layer.

“Proximate” refers to a NMS that closely follows the position of alayer, such as a functional layer, substrate layer, or other layer whilestill providing desired foldability or bendability without an adverseimpact on the strain-sensitive material physical properties. In general,a layer having a high strain sensitivity, and consequently being proneto being the first layer to fracture, is located in the functionallayer, such as a functional layer containing a relatively brittlesemiconductor or other strain-sensitive device element. A NMS that isproximate to a layer need not be constrained within that layer, but maybe positioned proximate or sufficiently near to provide a functionalbenefit of reducing the strain on the strain-sensitive device elementwhen the device is folded.

“Electronic device” is used broadly herein to refer to devices such asintegrated circuits, imagers or other optoelectronic devices. Electronicdevice also refers to a component of an electronic device such aspassive or active components such as a semiconductor, interconnect,contact pad, transistors, diodes, LEDs, circuits, etc. The presentinvention relates to the following fields: collecting optics, diffusingoptics, displays, pick and place assembly, vertical cavitysurface-emitting lasers (VCSELS) and arrays thereof, LEDs and arraysthereof, transparent electronics, photovoltaic arrays, solar cells andarrays thereof, flexible electronics, micromanipulation, plasticelectronics, displays, pick and place assembly, transfer printing, LEDs,transparent electronics, stretchable electronics, and flexibleelectronics.

A “component” is used broadly to refer to a material or individualcomponent used in a device. An “interconnect” is one example of acomponent and refers to an electrically conducting material capable ofestablishing an electrical connection with a component or betweencomponents. In particular, the interconnect may establish electricalcontact between components that are separate and/or can move withrespect to each other. Depending on the desired device specifications,operation, and application, the interconnect is made from a suitablematerial. For applications where a high conductivity is required,typical interconnect metals may be used, including but not limited tocopper, silver, gold, aluminum and the like, alloys. Suitable conductivematerials may include a semiconductor like silicon, indium tin oxide, orGaAs.

An interconnect that is “stretchable” is used herein to broadly refer toan interconnect capable of undergoing a variety of forces and strainssuch as stretching, bending and/or compression in one or more directionswithout adversely impacting electrical connection to, or electricalconduction from, a device component. Accordingly, a stretchableinterconnect may be formed of a relatively brittle material, such asGaAs, yet remain capable of continued function even when exposed to asignificant deformatory force (e.g., stretching, bending, compression)due to the interconnect's geometrical configuration. In an exemplaryembodiment, a stretchable interconnect may undergo strain larger thanabout 1%, 10% or about 30% or up to about 100% without fracturing. In anexample, the strain is generated by stretching an underlying elastomericsubstrate to which at least a portion of the interconnect is bonded.

A “device component” is used to broadly refer to an individual componentwithin an electrical, optical, mechanical or thermal device. Componentcan be one or more of a photodiode, LED, TFT, electrode, semiconductor,other light-collecting/detecting components, transistor, integratedcircuit, contact pad capable of receiving a device component, thin filmdevices, circuit elements, control elements, microprocessors,transducers and combinations thereof. A device component can beconnected to one or more contact pads as known in the art, such as metalevaporation, wire bonding, application of solids or conductive pastes,for example. Electrical device generally refers to a deviceincorporating a plurality of device components, and includes large areaelectronics, printed wire boards, integrated circuits, device componentsarrays, biological and/or chemical sensors, physical sensors (e.g.,temperature, light, radiation, etc.), solar cell or photovoltaic arrays,display arrays, optical collectors, systems and displays.

“Substrate” refers to a material having a surface that is capable ofsupporting a component, including a device, component or aninterconnect. An interconnect that is “bonded” to the substrate refersto a portion of the interconnect in physical contact with the substrateand unable to substantially move relative to the substrate surface towhich it is bonded. Unbonded portions, in contrast, are capable ofsubstantial movement relative to the substrate. The unbonded portion ofthe interconnect generally corresponds to that portion having a “bentconfiguration,” such as by strain-induced interconnect bending.

A “NMS adjusting layer” refers to a layer whose primary function isadjusting the position of the NMS in the device. For example, the NMSadjusting layer may be an encapsulating layer or an add layer such as anelastomeric material.

In the context of this description, a “bent configuration” refers to astructure having a curved conformation resulting from the application ofa force. Bent structures in the present invention may have one or morefolded regions, convex regions, concave regions, and any combinationsthereof. Bent structures useful in the present invention, for example,may be provided in a coiled conformation, a wrinkled conformation, abuckled conformation and/or a wavy (i.e., wave-shaped) configuration.

Bent structures, such as stretchable bent interconnects, may be bondedto a flexible substrate, such as a polymer and/or elastic substrate, ina conformation wherein the bent structure is under strain. In someembodiments, the bent structure, such as a bent ribbon structure, isunder a strain equal to or less than about 30%, a strain equal to orless than about 10%, a strain equal to or less than about 5% and astrain equal to or less than about 1% in embodiments preferred for someapplications. In some embodiments, the bent structure, such as a bentribbon structure, is under a strain selected from the range of about0.5% to about 30%, a strain selected from the range of about 0.5% toabout 10%, a strain selected from the range of about 0.5% to about 5%.Alternatively, the stretchable bent interconnects may be bonded to asubstrate that is a substrate of a device component, including asubstrate that is itself not flexible. The substrate itself may beplanar, substantially planar, curved, have sharp edges, or anycombination thereof. Stretchable bent interconnects are available fortransferring to any one or more of these complex substrate surfaceshapes.

A “pattern of bond sites” refers to spatial application of bonding meansto a supporting substrate surface and/or to the interconnects so that asupported interconnect has bond regions and non-bond regions with thesubstrate. For example, an interconnect that is bonded to the substrateat its ends and not bonded in a central portion. Further shape controlis possible by providing an additional bond site within a centralportion, so that the not-bonded region is divided into two distinctcentral portions. Bonding means can include adhesives, adhesiveprecursors, welds, photolithography, photocurable polymer. In general,bond sites can be patterned by a variety of techniques, and may bedescribed in terms of surface-activated (W_(act)) areas capable ofproviding strong adhesive forces between substrate and feature (e.g.,interconnect) and surface-inactive (W_(in)) where the adhesive forcesare relatively weak. A substrate that is adhesively patterned in linesmay be described in terms of W_(act) and W_(in) dimensions. Thosevariables, along with the magnitude of prestrain, ∈_(pre) affectinterconnect geometry.

“Ultrathin” refers to devices of thin geometries that exhibit extremelevels of bendability. In an aspect, ultrathin refers to circuits havinga thickness less than 1 μm, less than 600 nm or less than 500 nm. In anaspect, a multilayer device that is ultrathin has a thickness less than200 μm, less than 50 μm, or less than 10 μm.

“Elastomer” refers to a polymeric material which can be stretched ordeformed and return to its original shape without substantial permanentdeformation. Elastomers commonly undergo substantially elasticdeformations. Exemplary elastomers useful in the present invention maycomprise, polymers, copolymers, composite materials or mixtures ofpolymers and copolymers. Elastomeric layer refers to a layer comprisingat least one elastomer. Elastomeric layers may also include dopants andother non-elastomeric materials. Elastomers useful in the presentinvention may include, but are not limited to, thermoplastic elastomers,styrenic materials, olefenic materials, polyolefin, polyurethanethermoplastic elastomers, polyamides, synthetic rubbers, PDMS,polybutadiene, polyisobutylene, poly(styrene-butadiene-styrene),polyurethanes, polychloroprene and silicones. Elastomers provideelastomeric stamps useful in the present methods.

“Elastomeric stamp” or “elastomeric transfer device” are usedinterchangeably and refer to an elastomeric material having a surfacethat can receive as well as transfer a feature. Exemplary elastomerictransfer devices include stamps, molds and masks. The transfer deviceaffects and/or facilitates feature transfer from a donor material to areceiver material. “Elastomer” or “elastomeric” refers to a polymericmaterial which can be stretched or deformed and return to its originalshape without substantial permanent deformation. Elastomers commonlyundergo substantially elastic deformations. Exemplary elastomers usefulin the present invention may comprise, polymers, copolymers, compositematerials or mixtures of polymers and copolymers. Elastomeric layerrefers to a layer comprising at least one elastomer. Elastomeric layersmay also include dopants and other non-elastomeric materials. Elastomersuseful in the present invention may include, but are not limited to,thermoplastic elastomers, styrenic materials, olefenic materials,polyolefin, polyurethane thermoplastic elastomers, polyamides, syntheticrubbers, silicon-based organic polymers including polydimethylsiloxane(PDMS), polybutadiene, polyisobutylene, poly(styrene-butadiene-styrene),polyurethanes, polychloroprene and silicones.

“Conformal wrapping” refers to contact established between surfaces,coated surfaces, and/or surfaces having materials deposited thereonwhich may be useful for transferring, assembling, organizing andintegrating structures (such as printable semiconductor elements) on asubstrate surface. In one aspect, conformal contact involves amacroscopic adaptation of one or more contact surfaces of a conformabletransfer device to the overall shape of a substrate surface or thesurface of an object such as a printable semiconductor element. Inanother aspect, conformal contact involves a microscopic adaptation ofone or more contact surfaces of a conformable transfer device to asubstrate surface leading to an intimate contact with out voids. Theterm conformal contact is intended to be consistent with use of thisterm in the art of soft lithography. Conformal contact may beestablished between one or more bare contact surfaces of a foldabledevice and a substrate surface. Alternatively, conformal contact may beestablished between one or more coated contact surfaces, for examplecontact surfaces having a transfer material, printable semiconductorelement, device component, and/or device deposited thereon, of aconformable transfer device and a substrate surface. Alternatively,conformal contact may be established between one or more bare or coatedcontact surfaces of a conformable transfer device and a substratesurface coated with a material such as a transfer material, solidphotoresist layer, prepolymer layer, liquid, thin film or fluid.

“Low modulus” refers to materials having a Young's modulus less than orequal to 10 MPa, less than or equal to 5 MPa, or less than or equal to 1MPa.

“Young's modulus” is a mechanical property of a material, device orlayer which refers to the ratio of stress to strain for a givensubstance. Young's modulus may be provided by the expression;

$\begin{matrix}{{E = {\frac{({stress})}{({strain})} = \left( {\frac{L_{0}}{\Delta \; L} \times \frac{F}{A}} \right)}};} & ({II})\end{matrix}$

wherein E is Young's modulus, L₀ is the equilibrium length, ΔL is thelength change under the applied stress, F is the force applied and A isthe area over which the force is applied. Young's modulus may also beexpressed in terms of Lame constants via the equation:

$\begin{matrix}{{E = \frac{\mu \left( {{3\; \lambda}\; + {2\; \mu}} \right)}{\lambda + \mu}};} & ({III})\end{matrix}$

wherein λ and μ. are Lame constants. High Young's modulus (or “highmodulus”) and low Young's modulus (or “low modulus”) are relativedescriptors of the magnitude of Young's modulus in a give material,layer or device. In the present invention, a high Young's modulus islarger than a low Young's modulus, preferably about 10 times larger forsome applications, more preferably about 100 times larger for otherapplications and even more preferably about 1000 times larger for yetother applications. “Inhomogeneous Young's modulus” refers to a materialhaving a Young's modulus that spatially varies (e.g., changes withsurface location). A material having an inhomogeneous Young's modulusmay optionally be described in terms of a “bulk” or “average” Young'smodulus for the entire layer of material.

“Thin layer” refers to a material that at least partially covers anunderlying substrate, wherein the thickness is less than or equal to 300μm, less than or equal to 200 μm, or less than or equal to 50 μm.Alternatively, the layer is described in terms of a functionalparameter, such as a thickness that is sufficient to isolate orsubstantially reduce the strain on the electronic device, and moreparticularly a functional layer in the electronic device that issensitive to strain. “Isolate” refers to the presence of an elastomerlayer that substantially reduces the strain or stress exerted on afunctional layer when the device undergoes a stretching of foldingdeformation. In an aspect, strain is said to be “substantially” reducedif the strain is at least a factor of 20, at least a factor of 50. or atleast a factor of 100 times reduced compared to the strain in the samesystem without the elastomer layer.

Example 1 Stretchable and Foldable Silicon Integrated Circuits

Disclosed herein are approaches to access high performance, stretchableand foldable integrated circuits (ICs). The systems integrate inorganicelectronic materials, including aligned arrays of nanoribbons of singlecrystalline silicon, with ultrathin plastic and elastomeric substrates.The designs combine multilayer neutral mechanical plane layouts and‘wavy’ structural configurations in silicon complementary logic gates,ring oscillators and differential amplifiers. Three dimensionalanalytical and computational modeling of the mechanics of deformationsin these ICs, together with circuit simulations, illuminate aspects thatunderlie the measured behaviors. The strategies represent general andscalable routes to high performance, foldable and stretchableoptoelectronic devices that can incorporate established, highperformance inorganic electronic materials whose fragile, brittlemechanical properties would otherwise preclude their use in suchsystems.

Realization of electronics with performance equal to establishedtechnologies that use rigid semiconductor wafers, but in lightweight,foldable and stretchable formats facilitates development of newapplications. Examples include wearable systems for personal healthmonitoring and therapeutics, ‘smart’ surgical gloves with integratedelectronics and electronic eye type imagers that incorporate focal planearrays on hemispherical substrates⁽¹⁻³⁾. Circuits that use organic⁽⁴⁵⁾or certain classes of inorganic⁽⁶⁻¹³⁾ electronic materials on plastic orsteel foil substrates can provide some degree of mechanical flexibility,but they cannot be folded or stretched. Also, with few exceptions⁽¹¹⁻¹³⁾such systems offer only modest electrical performance. Stretchable metalinterconnects with rigid⁽¹⁴⁾ or stretchable⁽¹⁵⁻¹⁷⁾ inorganic devicecomponents represent alternative strategies that can also, in certaincases, provide high performance. In their existing forms, however, noneof these approaches allows scaling to circuit systems with practicallyuseful levels of functionality.

This example presents routes to high performance, single crystallinesilicon complementary metal oxide semiconductor (Si-CMOS) integratedcircuits (ICs) that are reversibly foldable and stretchable. Thesesystems combine high quality electronic materials, such as alignedarrays of silicon nanoribbons, with ultrathin and elastomericsubstrates, in multilayer neutral mechanical plane designs and with‘wavy’ structural layouts. High performance n and p channel metal oxidesemiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs), CMOS logic gates, ringoscillators and differential amplifiers, all with electrical propertiesas good as analogous systems built on conventional silicon-on-insulator(SOI) wafers, demonstrate the concepts. Analytical and finite elementmethod (FEM) simulation of the mechanics, together with circuitsimulations, reveal the key physics. These approaches are important notonly for the Si-CMOS, but also for their straightforward scalability tomuch more highly integrated systems with other diverse classes ofelectronic materials, whose intrinsic brittle, fragile mechanicalproperties would otherwise preclude their use in such applications.

FIG. 1A schematically summarizes steps for forming ultrathin, foldableand stretchable circuits, and presents optical images of representativesystems at different stages of the process. The procedure begins withspin-casting a sacrificial layer of poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA)(˜100 nm) followed by a thin, substrate layer of polyimide (PI) (˜1.2μm) on a Si wafer that serves as a temporary carrier. A transferprinting process with a poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) stamp^((18, 19))delivers to the surface of the PI organized arrays of n and p doped Sinanoribbons (inset of FIG. 1B) with integrated contacts, separatelyformed from n-type source wafers. Depositing and patterning SiO₂ (˜50nm) for gate dielectrics and interconnect crossovers, and Cr/Au (5/145nm) for source, drain and gate electrodes and interconnects yield fullyintegrated Si-CMOS circuits with performance comparable to similarsystems formed on SOI wafers (FIG. 5). FIG. 1C shows an image of anarray of Si-CMOS inverters and isolated n and p channel MOSFETs(n-MOSFETs and p-MOSFETs, respectively) formed in this manner, still onthe carrier substrate. In the next step, reactive ion etching forms asquare array of small holes (˜50 μm diameters, separated by 800 μm) thatextend through the nonfunctional regions of the circuits and the thin PIlayer, into the underlying PMMA. Immersion in acetone dissolves the PMMAby flow of solvent through the etch holes to release ultrathin, flexiblecircuits in a manner that does not degrade the properties of thedevices. These systems can be implemented as flexible, free-standingsheets, or they can be integrated in wavy layouts on elastomericsubstrates to provide fully reversible stretchability/compressibility.The frames of FIG. 1A show these two possibilities. The schematic crosssectional view at the bottom right illustrates the various layers ofthis Si-CMOS/PI system (total thickness ˜1.7 μm). Such ultrathincircuits exhibit extreme levels of bendability, as illustrated in FIG.1C, without compromising the electronic properties (FIG. 6). There aretwo primary reasons for this behavior. The first derives from elementarybending mechanics in thin films, where the surface strains aredetermined by the film thickness, t, divided by twice the radius ofcurvature associated with the bending, r⁽²⁰⁾. Films with t=1.7 μm can bebent to r as small as ˜85 μm before the surface strains reach a typicalfracture strain (˜1% in tension) for the classes of high performanceinorganic electronic materials used here. A second, and more subtle,feature emerges from full analysis of the bending mechanics in theactual material stacks of the circuits. The results indicate that theneutral mechanical plane (NMP) or neutral mechanical surface (NMS),which defines the position through the thickness of the structure wherestrains are zero for arbitrarily small r, lies in the electronic devicelayers for the designs implemented here (FIGS. 7A-7F). In other words,the high moduli of the electronic materials move the neutral mechanicalplane from the geometric mid plane, which lies in the PI, to the deviceor “functional” layers. The illustration at the bottom right of FIG. 1indicates with dashed lines the approximate locations of this neutralmechanical plane in different regions of the system. This situation ishighly favorable because the fracture strains of the materials used inthe circuits are substantially lower than those for fracture or plasticdeformation in the PI (˜7%). Two disadvantages of such circuits aretheir lack of stretchability and, for certain applications, their lowflexural rigidity. These limitations can be circumvented by implementingextensions of concepts that achieve stretchable, ‘wavy’ configurationsof sheets and ribbons of silicon and gallium arsenide^((15, 16)), in aprocedure illustrated in the bottom frame of FIG. 1A. The fabricationbegins with removal of the ultrathin circuits from the carrier substrateusing a PDMS stamp, evaporating a thin layer of Cr/SiO₂ (3/30 nm) ontothe exposed PI surface (i.e. the surface that was in contact with thePMMA), and then generating —OH groups on the surfaces of the SiO₂ and abiaxially prestrained PDMS substrate (∈_(pre)=∈_(xx)=∈_(yy), where the xand y coordinates lie in the place of the circuit) by exposure to ozoneinduced with an ultraviolet lamp. Transfer printing the circuit onto thePDMS substrate, followed by mild heating creates covalent linkages toform strong mechanical bonding between the Si CMOS/PI/Cr/SiO₂ and thePDMS. Relaxing the prestrain induces compressive forces on the circuitsthat lead to the formation of complex ‘wavy’ patterns of relief vianonlinear buckling processes. The location of the neutral mechanicalplane in the device layers, as noted previously, facilitates thenondestructive bending that is required to form these wavy patterns.Circuits in this geometry offer fully reversiblestretchability/compressibility without substantial strains in thecircuit materials themselves. Instead, the amplitudes and periods of thewave patterns change to accommodate applied strains (∈_(appl), in anydirection in the plane of the circuit), with physics similar to anaccordion bellows⁽²¹⁾. FIG. 1D presents an optical image of a wavySi-CMOS circuit on PDMS, formed with a biaxial prestrain of ˜5.6%. Thethickness of the PDMS can be selected to achieve any desired level offlexural rigidity, without compromising stretchability.

The left, middle and right frames of FIG. 2A show optical micrographs ofwavy Si-CMOS inverters formed with ∈_(pre)=2.7%, 3.9% and 5.7%,respectively. The wave structures have complex layouts associated withnonlinear buckling physics in a mechanically heterogeneous system. Threefeatures are notable. First, the waves form most readily in the regionsof smallest flexural rigidity: the interconnect lines between thep-MOSFET and n-MOSFET sides of the inverter and the electronicallyinactive parts of the circuit sheet. Second, as ∈_(pre) increases, thewave structures begin to extend from these locations to all parts of thecircuit, including the comparatively rigid device regions. Third, theetch holes, representative ones of which appear near the centers ofthese images, have a strong influence on the waves. In particular, wavestend to nucleate at these locations; they adopt wave vectors orientedtangential to the perimeters of the holes, due to the traction-freeedges at these locations. The first two behaviors can be quantitativelycaptured using analytical treatments and FEM simulation; the third byFEM. Analysis indicates, for example, that the p-MOSFET and n-MOSFETregions (SiO₂/metal/SiO₂/Si/PI: ˜0.05 μm/0.15 μm/0.05 μm/0.25 μm/1.2 μm)adopt periods between 160 and 180 μm and that the metal interconnects(SiO₂/metal/SiO₂/PI: ˜0.05 μm/0.15 μm/0.05 μm/1.2 μm) adopt periodsbetween 90 and 110 μm, all quantitatively consistent with experiment.FIG. 2B shows the results of full, three dimensional FEM modeling,together with a scanning electron micrograph of a sample. Thecorrespondence is remarkably good, consistent with the deterministic,linear elastic response of these systems. (Slight differences are due tothe sensitivity of the buckling patterns to the precise location anddetailed shapes of the etch holes, and some uncertainties in themechanical properties of the various layers.) Both the analytics and theFEM indicate that for ∈_(pre)up to 10% and 0%<∈_(appl)−∈_(pre)<10% thematerial strains in the device layers remain below 0.4% and 1%,depending on the region of the circuit and the metal, respectively(FIGS. 8A-8B). This mechanical advantage underlies the ability toachieve reversible stretchability/compressibility in systems thatcontain intrinsically brittle electronic materials such as SiO₂ and Si.

FIGS. 2C and 2D show images and electrical measurements of invertersunder different tensile, uniaxial applied strains, for a wavy circuitfabricated with ∈_(pre)=3.9%. As might be expected, the amplitudes andperiods of waves that lie along the direction of applied force decreaseand increase, respectively, to accommodate the resulting strains (FIGS.9A-9C). The Poisson effect causes compression in the orthogonaldirection, which leads to increases and decreases in the amplitudes andperiods of waves with this orientation, respectively. Electricalmeasurements indicate that the Si-CMOS inverters work well, throughoutthis range of applied strains. The left frame of FIG. 2D shows measuredand simulated transfer curves, with an inset graph that presents theelectrical properties of individual n-MOSFET and p-MOSFET devices withchannel widths (W) of 300 μm and 100 μm, respectively, to match currentoutputs, and channel lengths (L_(c)) of 13 μm. These data indicateeffective mobilities of 290 cm²/Vs, 140 cm²/Vs for the n and p channeldevices, respectively; the on/off ratios in both cases are >10⁵. Thegains exhibited by the inverters are as high as 100 at supply voltages(V_(DD)) of 5V, consistent with circuit simulations that use theindividual transistor responses. The right frame of FIG. 2D summarizesthe voltage at maximum gain, (V_(M)) for different ∈_(appl) along x andy. Tensile strains parallel to the transistor channels (i.e. along y)tend to reduce the compressive strains associated with the wavystructures in these locations, thereby increasing and decreasing thecurrents from the n-MOSFETs and p-MOSFETs, respectively. Perpendiculartensile strains cause opposite changes, due to the Poisson effect. Theresults are decreases and increases in V_(M) with parallel andperpendicular strains, respectively. Individual measurements of thetransistors at these various strain states enable simulations of changesin the inverters (FIGS. 9A-9C); the results, also included in the rightframe of FIG. 2D, are consistent with experiment. The devices also showgood behavior under mechanical/thermal cycling (up to 30 cycles) (FIGS.10A-10B).

More complex stretchable circuits can be fabricated using theseinverters as building blocks. FIG. 3A shows, for example, opticalimages, electrical measurements and stretching tests on Si-CMOS ringoscillators that use three inverters identical to those in FIGS. 2A-2D.The mechanical responses are qualitatively consistent withconsiderations described in the discussion of the inverters. Theelectrical measurements indicate stable oscillation frequencies of ˜3.0MHz at supply voltages of 10 V, even under severe buckling deformationsand strains of 5% and larger. We believe the oscillation frequency showslittle change because variations in mobilities of the p and n channeldevices effectively compensate one another, such that the delay throughthe inverter remains roughly the same. Other, more general, classes ofcircuits are compatible with the processes disclosed herein. FIG. 3Bshows, as an example, a differential amplifier⁽²²⁾ for a structuralhealth monitor that integrates four components: a current source (threetransistors with L_(c)=30 μm and W=80 μm), a current mirror (twotransistors with L_(c)=40 μm, W=120 μm and L_(c)=20 μm, W=120 μm), adifferential pair (two transistors with L_(c)=30 μm and W=180 μm), and aload (two transistors with L_(c)=40 μm and W=80 μm). The right frameshows an optical image of the corresponding wavy circuit (FIG. 11). Thisamplifier is designed to provide a voltage gain of ˜1.4 for a 500 mVpeak-to-peak input signal. Measurements at various tensile strains alongthe red arrow show gains that vary by less than ˜15%; 1.01 withoutapplied strain (0% s; black), 1.14 at 2.5% strain (red), 1.19 at 5%strain (blue) and 1.08 after release (0% e; green).

Although the ultrathin and wavy circuit designs described above provideunusually good mechanical properties, two additional optimizationsprovide further improvements. Dominant failure modes observed at highapplied strains (∈_(appl)−∈_(pre)>˜10%) or degrees of bending (r<˜0.05mm) are (i) delamination of the device layers and/or (ii) fracture ofthe metal interconnects. A design modification that addresses thesefailures involves the deposition of an encapsulating layer on top of thecompleted circuits. FIGS. 4A-4B illustrate a representative layout thatincludes a thin (˜1.2 μm) layer of PI on top of an ultrathin Si-CMOS/PIcircuit. The resulting systems are extremely bendable, which we refer toas ‘foldable’, as demonstrated in the PI/Si-CMOS/PI circuit tightlywrapped over the edge of a microscope cover slip (thickness ˜100 μm) inFIG. 4A. Even in this configuration, the inverters are operational andexhibit good electrical properties (FIGS. 12A-12D). Such foldability isenabled by two primary effects of the top PI layer: (i) its goodadhesion and encapsulation of the underlying layers prevents theirdelamination and (ii) it locates the metal interconnects at the neutralmechanical plane without moving this plane out of the silicon layers inother regions of the circuits (FIGS. 12A-12D). Such designs can also beincorporated in stretchable, wavy configurations to enablestretchability/compressibility. The stretchable system presents,however, another challenge. As mentioned previously, the bendability ofthe Si-CMOS/PI/PDMS is influenced strongly by the thickness of the PDMS.Systems that are both stretchable and highly bendable in this examplerequire the use of thin PDMS. Relaxing the prestrain when using a thinPDMS substrate results in an unwanted, overall bowing of the systemrather than the formation of wavy circuit structures. This responseoccurs due to the very low bending stiffness of thin PDMS, which in turnresults from the combined effects of its small thickness and extremelylow modulus compared to the PI/Si-CMOS/PI. Neutral mechanical planeconcepts that involve the addition of a compensating layer of PDMS ontop of the PI/Si-CMOS/PI/PDMS system, can avoid this problem. FIG. 4Billustrates this type of fully optimized, dual neutral mechanical planelayout (i.e. PDMS/PI/Si-CMOS/PI/PDMS), and its ability to be stretchedand bent. The optical micrographs at the bottom left and right of FIG.4B illustrate the various configurations observed under extreme twistingand stretching of this system.

The strategies presented in this example demonstrate the degree to whichextreme mechanical properties (i.e. stretchability, foldability) can beachieved in fully formed, high performance integrated circuits by use ofoptimized structural configurations and multilayer layouts, even withintrinsically brittle but high performance inorganic electronicmaterials. In this approach, the desired mechanical properties areenabled by materials (e.g. PDMS, thin PI and their multilayerassemblies) that do not need to provide any active electronicfunctionality. Such designs offer the possibility of direct integrationof electronics with biological systems, medical prosthetics andmonitoring devices, complex machine parts, or with mechanically rugged,lightweight packages for other devices.

Example 1 REFERENCES

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Device Fabrication: The transistors use doped silicon nanoribbons forthe semiconductor. The fabrication involves three steps. First, ann-type silicon-on-insulator (Si(260 nm)/SiO₂(1000 nm)/Si with doping of2.7-5.2×10¹⁵ cm⁻³, SOI wafer (SOITEC, France) is lightly doped withBoron via a spin-on-dopant (B153, Filmtronics, USA) at a diffusiontemperature around 550˜600° C. to define p-wells. SiO₂ (˜300 nm) formedby plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) was used as adiffusion mask. For this lithography procedure, AZ5214 photoresist(Clariant, USA) was spin coated at 3000 rpm for 30 sec. Next, highlydoped p-type source/drain electrodes are formed beside the p-wells usingthe same Boron spin-on-dopant, this time at a temperature of 1000˜1050°C. Then, heavily doped n-type source and drain regions are definedinside the p-well with Phosphorous spin-on-dopant (P509, Filmtronics,USA) at 950° C. by using the same diffusion mask and photolithographyprocedure. After doping, the desired structure of Si ribbons is definedby lithographic and dry etching steps with a SF₆ plasma (Plasmatherm RIEsystem, 40 Sccm SF₆ flow with a chamber pressure of 50 mTorr, 100 W rfpower for 30 s.). The underlying SiO₂ is removed by concentrated (49%)HF to release thin semiconductor ribbons. These released Si ribbons canthen be transferred in organized arrays from the SOI wafer to thecarrier wafer coated with thin layers of PMMA (MicroChem, USA) (˜100 nm,spin coat at 3000 rpm for 30 s) and poly(amic acid), precursor of PI[Poly(amic acid), Sigma Aldrich] (˜1.2 μm, spin coat at 4000 rpm for 60sec) using an elastomeric stamp as the transfer element. After completecuring of PI at 300° C. for 1˜1.5 h, the active regions of the devicesare isolated by SF₆ plasma and a thin gate oxide of SiO₂ (˜50 nm) isdeposited with PECVD. The PECVD SiO₂ on the source/drain contact regionsis then removed by RIE or buffered oxide etchant through openings in alayer of photoresist pattern by photolithography. Cr/Au (˜5 nm/˜145 nm)for source, drain and gate electrodes and metal interconnects aredeposited with e-beam evaporation and then are patterned byphotolithography and wet etching. A uniform layer SiO₂ (˜50 nm) isdeposited by PECVD to form a passivation layer. Etching away this layerfor contact windows enables electrical contact with the devices andcircuits, to complete the fabrication.

Removal of Ultrathin Circuit Sheets and Integration in Wavy Layouts onPDMS: After circuit fabrication, an array of holes, whose radius is 30μm and distance is 800 μm, is defined in nonfunctional areas, to exposethe underlying PMMA to acetone. Immersion in acetone removes thesacrificial PMMA layer to free an ultrathin circuit with PI substratefrom the carrier substrate. Such a circuit can either be used in afree-standing form, or it can be manipulated and transferred to anothersubstrate by use of transfer printing techniques. For formation ofstretchable, wavy layouts, the circuit is transferred to an elastomericsubstrate of PDMS, typically prestrained biaxially by thermal expansion.To enhance adhesion between the circuit and PDMS, thin layers of Cr (˜3nm) and SiO₂ (˜30 nm) are deposited on the bare PI at the opposite sideof active devices. Surface activation can be accelerated by exposure toUV/ozone for 3 min. Strong chemical bonding can then be accomplished byreacting —OH groups on this SiO₂ layer with those on the surface of thethermally prestrained PDMS. After transfer printing onto thepre-strained PDMS, the natural cooling can make PDMS and ultrathindevices shrink and wavy structure will be formed.

Stretching Test and Measurement: Stretching tests are performed withmechanical bending stages that are capable of applying uniaxial tensileor compressive strains in any direction. These stages mount directly inelectrical probing stations that are coupled with semiconductorparameter analyzers (Agilent, 5155C).

Measurement of Profile: In order to measure the wavelength andamplitude, a surface profiler (Sloan Dektak³) was used. A diamond styluswhich is in contact with a sample surface moves and follows the profileof sample surface and measures physical surface variation at differentpositions.

Fatigue Test: To evaluate the performance of wavy circuit underrepetitive stretching and releasing, multiple cycling of heating andcooling test was performed. The wavy circuit was heated 160° C. for 5minutes and then cooled down for 10 minutes before each electricalmeasurement.

Neutral Mechanical Plane Of Multilayer Stacks: The neutral mechanicalplane or NMS defines the position where the strains are zero. FIG. 7Bshows the multilayer stacks with the 1st layer on top and nth layer atthe bottom. In an aspect, the different layers include a support layer200, a functional layer 210, a neutral mechanical surface adjustinglayer 220 and an encapsulation layer 450 with a resultant neutralmechanical surface 230 that is, in this example, coincident with thefunctional layer 210. In an aspect, the functional layer comprisesflexible or elastic device regions 240 and relatively mechanically rigidisland regions 250 (see, e.g., FIG. 64). Referring to FIG. 64, an arrayof nanoribbons 260 having a first end 270 connected to a first rigidregion 280 and a second end 290 connected to a second rigid region 300provides additional device stretchability, foldability and bendability.

With respect to positioning of the neutral mechanical surface 230(indicated by the dashed line), each layer's (plane-strain) moduli andthicknesses are denoted by Ē₁, . . . Ē_(n) and h₁, . . . h_(n),respectively. The neutral plane is characterized by the distance b fromthe top surface, and b is given by:

$\begin{matrix}{b = {\frac{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{n}\; {{\overset{\_}{E}}_{i}{h_{i}\left\lbrack {\left( {\sum\limits_{j = 1}^{i}\; h_{j}} \right) - \frac{h_{i}}{2}} \right\rbrack}}}{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{n}\; {{\overset{\_}{E}}_{i}h_{i}}}.}} & (1)\end{matrix}$

For the p-MOSFET and n-MOSFET regions (n=5, SiO₂/metal/SiO₂/Si/PI: ˜0.05μm/0.15 μm/0.05 μm/0.25 μm/1.2 μm, see the center and right figures inFIG. 7A), FIG. 7C shows the position of the neutral plane. Their elasticmoduli and Poisson's ratios are E_(SiO) ₂ =70 GPa, v_(SiO) ₂ =0.17,E_(metal)=78 GPA, v_(metal)=0.44, E_(Si)=130 GPa, v_(Si)=0.27,E_(PI)=2.5 GPa, and v_(PI)=0.34. FIG. 7D shows the position of theneutral plane for the metal interconnect (n=4, SiO₂/metal/SiO₂/PI: ˜0.05μm/0.15 μm/0.05 μm/1.2 μm) corresponding to the left figure in FIG. 7A.

For the Si-CMOS sandwiched by the PI layers shown in FIG. 4A, FIG. 7Eshows the position of the neutral plane for the p-MOSFET and n-MOSFETregions (n=5, PI/metal/SiO₂/Si/PI: ˜1.2 μm/0.15 μm/0.05 μm/0.25 μm/1.2μm). The top PI capping layer moves the neutral mechanical plane towardsthe SiO₂/Si interface, and therefore reduces the device failure ofdelamination. FIG. 7F shows the position of the neutral plane for themetal interconnect (n=4, PI/metal/SiO₂/PI:-1.2 μm/0.15 μm/0.05 μm/1.2μm). The top PI capping layer moves the neutral mechanical plane towardsthe center of the metal layer, and therefore reduces the failure ofmetal interconnect. The thickness of the top PI capping layer can beoptimized to reduce the delamination of device layers and fracture ofmetal interconnect.

Buckling Wavelengths And Amplitudes Of The Wavy Systems. Equivalenttension and bending rigidities: The multilayer stacks are modeled as abeam. Its equivalent tension rigidity is:

$\begin{matrix}{{\overset{\_}{Eh} = {\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{n}\; {{\overset{\_}{E}}_{i}h_{i}}}},} & (2)\end{matrix}$

where the 1st layer is on top and the nth layer is at the bottom, andtheir moduli and thicknesses are denoted by Ē₁, . . . Ē_(n) and h₁, . .. h_(n), respectively. The equivalent bending rigidity is given by:

$\begin{matrix}{{\overset{\_}{EI} = {{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{n}\; {{\overset{\_}{E}}_{i}{h_{i}\left( {b - {\sum\limits_{j = 1}^{i}\; h_{j}}} \right)}^{2}}} + {\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{n}\; {{\overset{\_}{E}}_{i}{h_{i}^{2}\left( {b - {\sum\limits_{j = 1}^{i}\; h_{j}}} \right)}}} + {\frac{1}{3}{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{n}\; {{\overset{\_}{E}}_{i}h_{i}^{3}}}}}},} & (3)\end{matrix}$

where b is the distance of the neutral mechanical plane to the topsurface given in Eq. (1).

Metal interconnect on PDMS substrate: The equivalent tension rigidity Ehand bending rigidity EI of the metal interconnect are obtained from Eqs.(2) and (3) for n=4 (SiO₂/metal/SiO₂/PI). The PDMS substrate is modeledas a semi-infinite solid since its thickness is about 4 orders ofmagnitude thicker than the metal interconnect. FIG. 5 (left figure)shows that the buckling pattern is mainly one dimensional, and thereforethe out-of-plane displacement can be represented by w=A cos(kx₁), wherex₁ is the coordinate along the direction of interconnect, and theamplitude A and wave number k are to be determined by the minimizationof total energy of the system, which consists of the bending andmembrane energy of the thin film and the strain energy in the substrate.This gives the analytical expression of wave number and amplitude as

$\begin{matrix}{{k = {\sqrt{\frac{\overset{\_}{Eh}}{12\; \overset{\_}{EI}}}\left\lbrack {3\; {{\overset{\_}{E}}_{s}/\overset{\_}{Eh}}\sqrt{\frac{\overset{\_}{Eh}}{12\; \overset{\_}{EI}}}} \right\rbrack}^{1/3}},{A = {\sqrt{\frac{12\; \overset{\_}{EI}}{\overset{\_}{Eh}}}\sqrt{\frac{ɛ_{pre}}{ɛ_{c}} - 1}}},} & (4)\end{matrix}$

where Ē_(s) is the plane-strain modulus of the substrate, ∈_(pre) is theequi-biaxial prestrain, and

$ɛ_{c} = {\frac{1}{6}\left\lbrack {3\; {{\overset{\_}{E}}_{s}/\overset{\_}{Eh}}\sqrt{\frac{\overset{\_}{Eh}}{12\; \overset{\_}{EI}}}} \right\rbrack}^{2/3}$

is the critical buckling strain. For the PDMS modulus E_(s)=1.8 MPa andPoisson's ratio v_(s)=0.48, the wavelength in Eq. (4) is 96 μm, whichagrees well with experiments (˜100 μm).

The maximum strain in the metal interconnect is the sum of membranestrain and bending strain induced by the buckled geometry. FIG. 8A showsthe maximum strains in different device layers versus the prestrain. Thematerial strains in metal and SiO₂ layers are below 1% even for the 10%prestrain.

p-MOSFET and n-MOSFET on PDMS substrate: The p-MOSFET and n-MOSFETregions (SiO₂/metal/SiO₂/Si/PI, n=5) are next to the non-metal regions(SiO₂/SiO₂/PI, n=3) as illustrated in FIGS. 8A-8B. Their buckling iscoupled and therefore rather complex. Within each region theout-of-plane displacement has its own wavelength and amplitude, andacross the regions the displacement and rotation are continuous. Theminimization of total energy, which consists of the bending and membraneenergy of the thin film and the strain energy in the substrate, givesthe wavelengths and amplitudes in all regions. The wavelength in thep-MOSFET and n-MOSFET regions is about 140 μm, which agrees reasonablywell with experiments (˜180 μm).

FIG. 8B shows the maximum strains in different device layers versus theprestrain. The material strains in metal, SiO₂ and Si layers are below0.5% even for 10% prestrain such that the circuits are stretchable.

Finite Element Simulations: Three dimensional finite element modeling(FEM) simulations of the system were performed using the commercialABAQUS® package. Eight-node, hexahedral brick elements with four-nodemulti-layer shell elements were used for the substrate and the thinfilm, respectively. Suitable model dimensions were chosen to correspondto the inverter circuit element and surrounding substrate, as in FIG.13. Experimental observations indicate that these elements exhibitsimilar buckling patterns and that they are sufficiently far apart tobehave in a mechanically independent fashion. As a result the periodicalboundary conditions are applied to the external boundaries of thesubstrate. The multi-layer shell is bonded to the substrate surfacethrough shared nodes. The nodes of the bottom substrate are constrainedalong the vertical direction. Each layer of thin film (Si-CMOS/PIsystem) is modeled as a linear elastic material; the soft, elastomericsubstrate is modeled as an incompressible hyperelastic material. Thishyperelastic material model uses the neo-Hookean constitutive law whichaccounts for the nonlinearity in the stress-strain relation in a simpleway.

The simulations are performed to correspond exactly both to the materiallayouts as well as the fabrication procedures for the ultrathin CMOScircuits. The buckling mode shape was determined by perturbationanalysis of the three-dimensional model with a multi-layer thin film(Si-CMOS/PI system) and a soft PDMS substrate. The substrate (withoutthe thin film), with the effect of an imperfection introduced byperturbation in the geometry, expands due to an increase in temperature(thermal loading). When the temperature reaches 160° C. (˜3.9% strain),the multi-layer thin film (shell elements) is bonded to the PDMSsubstrate (solid elements). As the temperature decreases, simulationsshow that the thin film buckles with the substrate, consistent withnon-linear buckling analysis. This model requires a large number ofelements to achieve reasonably good accuracy. The current model includes˜200,000 elements and is large enough to accommodate buckling waves. Thebuckling pattern, wavelength and amplitude and their spatialdistribution can be found from this analysis. These simulations giveinsights into the formation of buckling patterns, the mechanics behaviorof the thin film and the nested hierarchy of the structure.

Example 2

A Hemispherical Electronic Eye Camera Based on Compressible SiliconOptoelectronics. The human eye represents a remarkable imaging device,with many attractive design features.^(1,2) Prominent among these is ahemispherical detector geometry, similar to that found in many otherbiological systems, that enables wide field of view and low aberrationswith simple, few component, imaging optics. This type of configurationis extremely difficult to achieve using established optoelectronicstechnologies, due to the intrinsically planar nature of the patterning,deposition, etching, materials growth and doping methods that exist forfabricating such systems. This example provides processes and relatedsystems that avoid these apparent limitations. The devices and processesare used to yield high performance, hemispherical electronic eye camerasbased on single crystalline silicon technology. The approach useswafer-scale optoelectronics formed in unusual, two dimensionallycompressible configurations and elastomeric transfer elements capable oftransforming the planar layouts in which the systems are initiallyfabricated into hemispherical geometries for their final implementation.The processes provided herein, together with the computational analysesof their associated mechanics, provide practical routes for integratingwell developed planar device technologies onto the surfaces of complexcurvilinear objects, suitable for diverse applications that cannot beaddressed using conventional means.

The ability to implement electronic and optoelectronic systems onnonplanar surfaces is useful not only for hemispherical cameras andother classes of bioinspired device designs, but also for conformalintegration on or in biological systems as monitoring devices,prosthetics and others. Unfortunately, existing technologies have beendeveloped only for surfaces of rigid, semiconductor wafers or glassplates and, in more recent work, flat plastic sheets. None is suitablefor the sorts of applications contemplated here because the mechanicalstrains needed to accomplish the planar to hemispherical geometricaltransformation, for example up to ˜40% for compact eye-type cameras,greatly exceed the fracture strains (e.g. a few percent) of all knownelectronic materials, particularly the most well developedinorganics.^(3,4), even in wavy structural layouts. One strategy tocircumvent these limitations involves adapting all of semiconductorprocessing and lithography for direct use on curvilinear surfaces. Evena single piece of this type of multifaceted effort (e.g. lithographicpatterning on such surfaces⁵⁻¹⁴ with levels of resolution and multilevelregistration that begin to approach those that can be easily achieved onplanar surfaces) requires solutions to extremely difficult technicalchallenges. Although some work based on plastic deformation of planarsheets,^(15,16) self-assembly of small chips^(17,18) and folding ofelastic membranes,^(19,20) have shown some promise, each has drawbacksand all require certain processing steps to be performed on ahemispherical or curved surface. Partly as a result, none have been usedto achieve the type of cameras contemplated here. This exampleintroduces a route to curvilinear optoelectronics and electronic eyeimagers that begins with well-established electronic materials andplanar processing approaches to create optoelectronic systems on flat,two dimensional surfaces, in unusual designs that allow fullcompressibility/stretchability to large levels of strain (˜50% or more).This feature enables planar layouts to be geometrically transformed(i.e. conformally wrapped) to nearly arbitrary curvilinear shapes. Thisexample uses a hemispherical, elastomeric transfer element to accomplishthis transformation with an electrically interconnected array of singlecrystalline silicon photodiodes and current blocking p-n junction diodesassembled in a passive matrix layout. The resulting hemispherical focalplane arrays, when combined with imaging optics and hemisphericalhousings, yield electronic cameras that have overall sizes and shapescomparable to the human eye. Experimental demonstrations and theoreticalanalyses reveal the key aspects of these systems.

FIG. 14 schematically illustrates the main steps in the fabrication. Theprocess begins with the formation of a hemispherical, elastomerictransfer element by casting and curing a liquid prepolymer topoly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS; Dow Corning) in the gap between opposingconvex and concave lenses with matching radii of curvature (˜1 cm). Aspecially designed jig to hold these lenses also provides a raised rimaround the perimeter of the resulting piece of PDMS. This transferelement mounts into a mechanical fixture that provides coordinatedradial motion of ten independent paddle arms that each insert into therim. Translating the arms of this radial tensioning stage outwardexpands the hemisphere. The associated reversible, elastic deformationsin the PDMS transform this hemisphere, at sufficiently large tensioning,into the planar shape of a ‘drumhead’, such that all points in the PDMSare in biaxial tension. The extent of expansion and the underlyingmechanics determine the overall magnitude of this tension. Separately,conventional planar processing forms a passive matrix focal plane arrayon a silicon-on-insulator (SOI; Soitec) wafer, comprised of singlecrystalline silicon photodetectors, current blocking p-n junctiondiodes, metal (Cr/Au/Cr) for interconnects, with films of polymer(polyimide) to support certain regions and to encapsulate the entiresystem. An important design feature is the use of thin, narrow lines toconnect nearest neighbor pixel elements; these structures facilitateelastic compressibility in the system, as described subsequently.Removing the buried oxide layer of the SOI wafer by etching withconcentrated HF in a manner that leaves the focal plane array supportedby polymer posts but otherwise raised above the underlying silicon‘handle’ wafer completes the device processing. Fabrication of theinterconnected pixel arrays on rigid, planar substrates usingestablished processing techniques avoids limitations, e.g. inregistration, that are often encountered in soft electronics.

Contacting the transfer element in its tensioned, planar ‘drumhead’shape against this wafer and then peeling it away lifts up the focalplane array, leaving it adherent to the soft surface of the elastomerthrough non-specific van der Waals interactions.^(21,22) In the nextstep, moving the leaf arms of the tensioning stage inward to theirinitial positions causes the elastomer to relax back, approximately, toits initial hemispherical shape but with a slightly (˜10% for thesystems investigated here) larger radius of curvature. In this process,compressive forces act on the focal plane array to bring the pixelelements closer together, with magnitudes that correspond to significantcompressive strains (i.e. up to 10-20%, depending on the tensioning).The narrow, thin connecting lines accommodate these large strains bydelaminating locally from the surface of the elastomer to adopt arcshapes pinned on the ends by the detector pixels (i.e. the strainsaccommodated in the interconnects are greater and are up to ˜30-40%),with a mechanics conceptually similar to related responses instretchable semiconductor ribbons.²³ This process allows theplanar-to-spherical geometrical transformation to be accomplishedwithout creating substantial strains in any of the active components ofthe focal plane array, as discussed subsequently. The hemispherical,elastomeric transfer element, ‘inked’ with the focal plane array in thismanner, then enables transfer ‘printing’ onto a hemispherical glasssubstrate with a matching radius of curvature and coated with a thinlayer of a photocurable adhesive (NOA 73, Norland). Mounting theresulting system on a printed circuit board with bus lines to externalcontrol electronics, establishing electrical connections to pinoutslocated along the perimeter of the detector array, and integrating witha hemispherical cap fitted with a simple imaging lens completes thehemispherical electronic eye camera.

The fabrication approach summarized in FIG. 14 can be applied to planarelectronics and optoelectronics technologies with nearly arbitrarymaterials classes and devices (e.g., sophisticated cameras, retinalimplants), provided that they incorporate appropriately configuredcompressible interconnects. A key advantage of the strategy is that themost labor-intensive part of the process (i.e. formation of the pixelarrays themselves) is fully compatible with the capabilities ofexisting, planar silicon device manufacturing facilities. FIGS. 15A-15Dsummarize key aspects of the mechanics of this process, as revealed witha high density array of passive silicon elements (20×20 μm, with 50 nmthickness) and nearest neighbor connections (20×4 μm, with 50 nmthickness), all designed for simplicity of illustration. FIG. 15A showsan optical image of such an array transferred onto the surface of ahemispherical, elastomeric transfer element, corresponding to the nextto last frame in FIG. 14. The high level of engineering control on theprocess is evident from the uniformity of the structure shown in thisimage. FIG. 15B presents a scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of a smallregion of the array, collected from the sample in FIG. 15A. The arcshaped connections responsible for the compressibility can be seenclearly. The yields associated with the transfer and the formation ofthese types of connections can be high; only ˜5 defects, correspondingto a yield of >90% for this field of view, are presented in FIG. 15B.FIG. 15C shows the spatial distribution of elements in a similartransferred array. A simple mechanics model, based on plate theory,²³and confirmed using established finite element analysistechniques,^(24,26) shows how the silicon elements are mapped from theflat to hemisphere. The pixel positions given by these models, alsoshown in FIG. 15C, agree well with the experiments without parameterfitting. These mechanics models indicate very small, ˜3%, changes(maximum to minimum) in the local pitch across the entire area, withsmooth, deterministic variations in this quantity. The relativelyuniform pitch is ˜10% smaller than the initial value before the PDMS isrelaxed. As with this part of the mechanics of the process, the natureof the compressibility provided by the narrow, thin interconnectsbetween adjacent unit cells can be understood through theoreticalanalysis. The SEM of FIG. 15D provides a high magnification view of thearray shown in FIGS. 15A and 15B, with analysis results in the form ofoverlays of the arc shapes and the distributions of strain. Theout-of-plane displacement, w, of the arc-shaped connections takes theform

${w = {\frac{A}{2}\left( {1 + {\cos \frac{2\; \pi \; x}{L}}} \right)}},$

where A is the amplitude, x is the position along the connection and Lis the lateral separation distance between adjacent pixel elements; thisdistance is L₀=20 μm as measured in the as-fabricated planarconfiguration. Minimizing the membrane and bending energy in theconnection strips yields an analytical expression for the amplitude

${A = {\frac{2\; L_{0}}{\pi}\sqrt{\frac{L_{0} - L}{L_{0}} - ɛ_{c}}}},$

where, ∈_(c), the critical buckling strain, is given by ∈c=π²h²/(3L₀ ²),where h is the thickness; its value is 0.0021% for the system shownhere. For L=17.5 μm, the amplitude A=4.50 μm agrees well with theexperiments A=4.76 μm. The maximum strain in the connections is ˜0.5%,substantially below the fracture strain for the silicon. Mechanicsmodels also reveal the distribution of strains and displacements in thesquare silicon elements. The maximum out-of-plane displacements are verysmall (<0.1 μm), as are the strains ∈_(xx) and ∈_(yy) (<0.08%), as shownin FIG. 15D. The strain ∈_(xx) in the Si element reaches the peak nearthe interconnections in the x-direction, while the peak of ∈_(yy) occursnear those in the y-direction.

The approaches and associated mechanics summarized in FIGS. 14 and15A-15D can be applied to planar electronics and optoelectronicstechnologies with nearly arbitrary materials classes and devices,provided that they incorporate appropriately configured compressibleinterconnects. FIGS. 16A-16E outline the designs implemented for thecameras described here. Each pixel in the array supports two devices—aphotodetector and a pn junction diode—monolithically formed in a singlepiece of single crystalline silicon (500×500 μm; 1.2 μm thick) with acapping layer of polyimide (560×560 μm; 1-1.5 μm thick): The firstdevice provides local light detection; the second enables currentblocking and enhanced isolation for passive matrix readout. We refer tothese devices as PDs (photodiodes) and BDs (blocking diodes),respectively. Layers of metal above each of the BDs shield them fromlight, thereby removing their photoresponse. The layouts of this metal,the two devices and the electrical connections are illustrated in the‘exploded’ schematic view of FIG. 16A. The pixel-to-pixel interconnectsconsist of thin layers of patterned metal (360×50 μm width; Cr/Au/Cr3/150/3 nm thick) on thin layers of polyimide (360×110 μm; 1-1.5 μmthick), spin-cast and patterned in conventional ways.

SEM images in FIGS. 16D, 16E show a 16 by 16 array of PD-BD pixelstransferred onto the surface of a hemispherical, elastomeric transferelement, corresponding to the next-to-last frame in FIG. 14. Thearc-shaped interconnections that enable the planar to hemisphericaltransformation can be seen clearly. The yields associated with thetransfer process and the formation of these types of stretchableconnections are high; 100% of the pixels and interconnections in thecase of the 16 by 16 arrays have been reproducibly transferred. Greaterthan 95% yields have also been demonstrated for the transfer of higherdensity arrays of passive silicon elements (20 by 20 μm, with 50 nmthickness) and nearest neighbor connections (20 by 4 μm, with 50 nmthickness) (see FIG. 52).

Significant mechanical deformations in the imaging arrays are generatedduring the transfer process, specifically during the planar tohemispherical transformation of the elastomeric transfer element. Simplemechanics models, based on plate theory and confirmed using establishedfinite element analysis techniques, have been developed to determine thespatial distributions of pixels during the transfer process, as well asthe distributions of stresses and displacements in the interconnectionsand silicon pixels. These models indicate that the imaging arrays on thehemispherical surface have 1) very small variations (˜3% maximum tominimum) in the local pitch and 2) the relatively uniform pitch is −10%smaller than the arrays in the planar, as-fabricated geometry. Inaddition, the mechanics models predict maximum strains of ˜0.01% in theSi pixels and ˜0.3% in the metal of the arc-shaped interconnects for the˜20% change in interconnection length (˜10% change in pitch) observed inthese systems. FIG. 16C presents an optical image of a completed arrayon a hemispherical glass substrate, corresponding to the last frame inFIG. 14. The high level of engineering control on the fabricationprocess is evident from the uniformity of the structures that can betransferred to the hemispherical substrate.

FIG. 16B shows the current/voltage response of a representativeindividual pixel in a hemispherical detector array (black solid curve:in the dark; red dashed curve: exposed to light), addressed via row andcolumn electrodes through contact pads at the perimeter of the 16×16array. Similar responses are achieved for individual pixels in planarimaging arrays. Key features are the strong photoresponse (main frame),the very low reverse bias current (right inset), and low crosstalk(right inset) between pixels in passive matrix addressing. FIG. 16Cshows optical images of a completed array on a hemispherical glasssubstrate. The upper left and right insets provide circuit schematics(red: PD; black: BD) and a magnified view of part of the array,respectively. The mechanics model for the Si system (FIGS. 15A-15D) asapplied to the device shown in FIGS. 16A-16E, gives maximum strains(∈_(xx) or ∈_(yy)) in the Si of ˜0.01% for the ˜12.5% change inconnection length observed in these systems. The maximum strain in themetal of the arc-shaped interconnects is ˜0.3%.

Evaporating metal over the edge of the glass substrate through aflexible shadow mask provides electrical connections to the row andcolumn contacts at the periphery of the passive matrix array. Theseconnections lead to prepatterned lines on a printed circuit board, whichterminate in a 34 pin connector that provides a ribbon cable interfaceto a computer with specially designed software for acquiring images fromthe camera. The resulting system appears in FIG. 17A Presently, theelectrode lines that connect the periphery of the pixel arrays toseparate control electronics limit yields and set practical bounds onpixel counts. With unoptimized manual systems, the interconnects fromthe periphery of the pixel array to the printed circuit board can beregistered to an accuracy of ±200 μm. Integration with a hemisphericalcap fitted with a simple, single element lens that provides the imagingoptics completes the camera, as illustrated in the images of FIGS. 17B,17C.

FIGS. 17D, 17E show an image of a test pattern collected with a camerahaving this design (“hemispherical electronic eye camera”) and a similarone in a conventional planar layout, presented as grayscalerepresentations on surfaces with the geometries of the focal planearrays. These results implement a strategy adapted from biology toovercome limited resolution and pixel defects. In particular, a sequenceof images are collected as the cameras are moved (translated in theplanar case, and rotated in the hemispherical case) relative to theobject. The images of FIG. 17D, 17E correspond to combined sets ofindividual images from a few pixels obtained in this manner.

FIG. 17F shows images collected with the hemispherical electronic eyecamera of FIGS. 17A-17C. The optical setup for these results usedcollimated green light (Ar ion laser) to illuminate a printed pattern ona transparency film. The transmitted light passed through a simpleplano-convex lens (diameter=25.4 mm; focal length=35 mm) to form animage on the hemispherical camera (see FIG. 31). The left frame of FIG.17F shows the direct output of the camera for the case of an image ofthe top two rows of the standard eye chart. Although the shapes of theletters are clearly resolved, the fine spatial features of the smallertext are not accurately represented due to the relatively low numbers ofpixels in these cameras. The image quality can be improved byimplementing a strategy adapted from biological systems, in which asequence of images are collected as the camera is eccentrically rotatedin θ and φ directions relative to the object. Reconstruction, usingpixel positions on the hemispherical surface predicted with mechanicsmodels described herein, yields high resolution images. The right frameof FIG. 17F is a picture acquired by rapidly scanning a small range ofangles (from −2 to 2° in both δ and φ directions) in 0.4° increments.

Even more complex pictures, as shown in FIGS. 53 a-b, can be obtained inhigh resolution using this simple scanning approach (from −2 to 2° in θand φ directions, 0.4° increments). Inspection of the images suggeststhat the stitching errors associated with this process are <40 μm,thereby validating the accuracy of these models. The nearest neighborpixels in the hemispherical camera are separated by ˜4° leading to zeroredundancy in generating the tiled picture. These results alsodemonstrate the high yield of functional pixels, >99% (254 out of 256).Provided are images acquired from each pixel when scanned over theentire projected image (from −40 to 40° in both θ and φ directions),further demonstrating the high quality and uniformity of the pixels inthe array.

The simple, single-lens system considered here provides a clear exampleof how curved detectors can improve camera performance. The focusingability of hemispherical and planar cameras is compared in FIGS. 53 c-fusing fabricated devices, ray tracing software, and commercial cameras.An ideal imaging system would perfectly reproduce the image on thedetector surface; however, the lens introduces aberrations that degradethe image quality. Complex and expensive optics can reduce thethird-order Seidel aberrations for planar detector surfaces, but suchaberrations play a significant role in the focusing ability of thesimple, single-lens arrangements of interest here. A demonstration offocusing abilities requires non-collimated light sources and a wideaperture for a large field of view; thus the optical test setup forFIGS. 53 c-f uses rear-illumination of a pattern printed on paper withhalogen lamps and a high numerical aperture plano-convex lens(diameter=12 mm; focal length=12 mm). Use of optical filters to limitthe incident light wavelength to ˜620-700 nm minimizes contributionsfrom chromatic aberrations. FIG. 53 c shows the optics arrangement andrepresentative ray traces used to calculate the curvilinear imagesurface. The calculated surface corresponds, to good approximation, to aparaboloid of revolution (see FIG. 53 d) and is much closer in shape tothe hemispherical detector than the planar detector. FIG. 53 e showsimages projected on a planar screen (photographic plastic film) obtainedwith a commercial camera at two different distances (z; left, 14.40 mmand right, 16.65 mm) between the screen and lens. The position of bestfocus shifts from the center to the edge of the image with decreasing z.The image surface estimated using a series of such photographs issimilar to that predicted by the ray tracing theory (see FIGS. 53 d and56). FIGS. 53 f and 53 g compare images acquired with the fabricatedplanar and hemispherical cameras, respectively. The hemispherical systemhas a number of advantages including more uniform focus from the centerto the edge, a wider field of view, more homogeneous intensitythroughout the image, and reduced geometric distortions. Many of thesefeatures are evident in FIG. 53 f,g, even with the modest levels ofresolution associated with these particular devices.

In conclusion, the compressible optoelectronics and elastomeric transferelement strategies introduced here are compatible with high resolutionfocal plane arrays, other more advanced materials systems and devicedesigns, as well as refined substrate shapes (e.g. aspherical surfaces).

REFERENCES

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Materials and Methods:

Nearly all of the materials and methods use setups specifically designedfor this specific example, including certain of the planar processingsteps and circuit liftoff strategies, the compressible interconnectlayouts, the hemispherical PDMS transfer elements, the radial tensioningstages, the fixtures and lens systems, the mux/demux interfaces and thecomputer software control and are further described herein.

Planar Processing of the Focal Plane Array:

The sequence of processing steps used to form the focal plane arraysappears below in TABLEs 1 and 2. A key part of the fabrication is theformation of polymer posts that support the array during undercutetching of the buried oxide (steps 34-37). FIG. 18 highlights thisprocessing. FIG. 19 schematically illustrates the layout of the array,and provides key dimensions. FIG. 20 presents images of a complete arrayand micrographs of features of the unit cell, for the simple system of aplanar camera with designs that are otherwise similar to those used forthe hemispherical system.

TABLE 1 - Processing Scheme for Focal Plane Arrays on SOI - 1. Clean a1.2 μm SOI wafer chip (Soitec) (acetone, IPA, water → drying 5 min at110° C.). 2. HMDS pretreatment for 1.5 min. 3. Pattern photoresist (PR;Clariant AZ5214, 3000 rpm, 30 s) with 365 nm optical lithography Patternthrough chrome mask (Karl Suss MJB3). {close oversize brace} alignmentmarks Develop in aqueous base developer (MIF 327). 4. Reactive ion etch(RIE: PlasmaTherm 790 Series, 50 mTorr, 40 sccm SF₆, 100 W, 20 s). 5.Remove PR. Acetone rinse and then piranha treatment (~1:1 H₂SO₄:H₂O₂ for1 min). 6. HF cleaning (Fisher, concentrated 49%, 2 sec). 7. Plasmaenhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD; PlasmaTherm SLR) of 600 nmSiO²⁻ 8. HMDS 1.5 min. 9. Pattern PR. 10. Anneal 5 min. 11. Etch oxidewith buffered oxide etch (BOE, 2 min). 12. Remove PR. Acetone rinse andthen piranha treatment for 3 min. {close oversize brace} p⁺ doping 13.BOE for 2 s. 14. Anneal at 200° C. for 10 min. 15. Spin-on-dopant(p-type, Boron, Filmtronics B219, 3000 rpm, 30 s). 16. Anneal at 200° C.for 10 min. 17. Anneal at 1050° C. for 30 min. 18. Cleaning (HF for 30s. 1:1 HNO₃:H₂SO₄ for 5 min. BOE for 1 min). 19. PECVD 600 nm SiO₂. 20.HMDS 1.5 min. 21. Pattern PR. 22. Anneal 5 min. 23. Etch oxide withbuffered oxide etch (BOE, 2 min). 24. Remove PR. Acetone rinse and thenpiranha treatment for 3 min. 25. BOE for 2 s. {close oversize brace} n⁺doping 26. Anneal at 200° C. for 10 min. 27. Spin-on-dopant (n-type,Phosphorous, Filmtronics P506, 3000 rpm, 30 s). 28. Anneal at 200° C.for 10 min. 29. Anneal at 950° C. for 20 min. 30. Cleaning (BOE for 4min, piranha for 3 min, BOE for 1 min). 31. Pattern PR. } Define PD andBD structures 32. RIE (50 mTorr, 40 sccm SF₆, 100 W, 4 min). 33. RemovePR. Acetone rinse and then piranha treatment for 3 min. 34. HF for 90 s.} Pre-treatment 35. Spin coat with polyimide (PI, poly(pyromelliticdianhydride-co-4,4′ -oxydianiline), amic acid solution. Sigman-Aldrich,spun at 4,000 rpm for 60 s). 36. Anneal at 110° C. for 3 min and 150° C.for 10 min. 37. Anneal at 250° C. for 2 h in N₂ atmosphere. 38.Ultraviolet ozone (UVO) treatment for 5 min. Deposit and 39. PECVD 200nm SiO₂. {close oversize brace} pattern PI 40. HMDS 1.5 min. supportlayer 41. Pattern PR. 42. RIE (50 mTorr, 40:1.2 sccm CF₄:O₂ 150 W, 10min). 43. Remove PR. Acetone rinse. 44. RIE (50 mTorr, 20 sccm O₂, 150W, 15 min). 45. BOE for 40 s. 46. Sputter 3/150/3 nm of Cr/Au/Cr. 47.PECVD 200 nm SiO₂. 48. HMDS 1.5 min. 49. Pattern PR. Deposit and 50. RIE(50 mTorr, 40:1.2 sccm CF₄:O₂, 150 W, 10 min). {close oversize brace}pattern 51. Wet etch Cr/Au/Cr for 20/40/20 s (Transene etchants). metallayer 52. Remove PR. Acetone rinse. 53. Remove SiO₂. BOE for 60 s. 54.Spin coat with PI. 55. Anneal at 110° C. for 3 min, at 150° C. for 10min. 56. Anneal at 250° C. for 2 h in N₃ atmosphere. 57. UVO treatmentfor 5 min. 58. PECVD 200 nm SiO₂. 59. HMDS 1.5 min. Deposit and 60.Pattern PR. {close oversize brace} pattern PI 61. RIE (50 mTorr, 40:1.2sccm CF₄:O₂, 150 W, 10 min). encapsulation 62. Remove PR. Acetone rinse.layer 63. RIE (50 mTorr, 20 sccm O₂, 150 W, 10 min). 64. BOE for 60 s.65. UVO treatment for 5 min 66. PECVD 200 nm SiO₂. 67. HMDS 1.5 min. 68.Pattern PR Pattern holes 69. RIE (50 mTorr, 40:1.2 sccm CF₄:O₂, 150 W,10 min). for oxide box 70. RIE (50 mTorr, 20 sccm O₂, 150 W, 1.0 min).{close oversize brace} layer etch. 71. Wet etch Cr/Au/Cr for 8/20/8 s.72. RIE (50 mTorr, 20 sccm O₂, 150 W, 15 min). 73. RIE (50 mTorr, 40sccm SF₆, 100 W, 5 min). 74. Remove PR. Acetone rinse. 75. HF for 30 minto etch oxide box layer and release array from handle wafer. 76.Transfer and printing processes.

TABLE 2 - Processing Scheme for Focal Plane Arrays on SOI - 1. Clean a1.2 μm SOI wafer chip (Soitex) (acetone, IPA, water → drying 5 min at110° C.). 2. HMDS pretreatment for 1.5 min. 3. Pattern photoresist (PR;Clariant AZ5214, 3000 rpm, 30 s) with 365 nm optical lithography throughchrome mask (Karl Suss, MJB3) {close oversize brace} Pattern Develop inaqueous base developer (MIF 327). alignment marks 4. Reactive ion etch(RIE; PlasmaTherm 790 Series, 50 mTorr, 40 sccm SF₆, 100 W, 20 s). 5.Remove PR. Acetone rinse and them piranha treatment (~3:1 H₃SO₄:H₃O₂ for1 min). 6. HF cleaning (Fisher, concentrated 49%, 2 sec). 7. Plasmaenhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD; PlasmaTherm SLR) of 600 nmSiO₂. 8. HMDS 1.5 min. 9. Pattern PR. 10. Anneal 5 min. 11. Etch oxidewith buffered oxide etch (BOE, 2 min). 12. Remove PR. Acetone rinse andthen piranha treatment for 3 min. {close oversize brace} p⁺ doping 13.BOE for 2 s. 14. Anneal at 200° C. for 10 min. 15. Spin-on-dopant(p-type, Boron, Filmtronics B219, 3000 rpm, 30 s). 16. Anneal at 200° C.for 10 min. 17. Anneal at 1050° C. for 30 min. in 4:1 N₂:O₃. 18.Cleaning (HF for 30 s. 1:1 HNO₃:H₃SO₄ for 5 min. BOE for 1 min). 19.PECVD 600 nm SiO₃. 20. HMDS 1.5 min. 21. Pattern PR. 22. Anneal 5 min.23. Etch oxide with buffered oxide etch (BOE, 2 min). 24. Remove PR.Acetone rinse and then piranha treatment for 3 min. 25. BOE for 2 s.{close oversize brace} n⁺ doping 26. Anneal at 200° C. for 10 min. 27.Spin-on-dopant (n-type, Phosphorous, Filmtronics P506, 3000 rpm, 30 s).28. Anneal at 200° C. for 10 min. 29. Anneal at 950° C. for 20 min in4:1 N₂:O₃. 30. Cleaning (BOE for 4 min, piranha for 3 min, BOE for 1min). 31. Pattern PR. Define PD and 32. RIE (50 mTorr, 40 sccm SF₆, 100W, 4 min). {close oversize brace} BD structures 33. Remove PR. Acetonerinse and then piranha treatment for 3 min. 34. HF for 90 s. 35. PECVD100 SiO₂. Pre-treatment 36. Pattern PR. {close oversize brace} withsacrificial 37. BOE for 30 s. oxide layer. 38. Remove PR. Acetone rinseand then piranha treatment for 3 min. 39. Spin coat with polyimide (PI,poly(pyromellitic dianhydride-co-4,4′ -oxydianiline), amic acidsolution. Sigma-Aldrich, spun at 4,000 rpm for 60 s). 40. Anneal at 110°C. for 3 min and 150° C. for 10 min. 41. Anneal at 250° C. for 2 h in N₂atmosphere. 42. Ultraviolet ozone (UVO) treatment for 5 min. Deposit and43. PECVD 200 nm SiO₂. {close oversize brace} pattern PI 44. HMDS 1.5min. support layer 45. Pattern PR. 46. RIE (50 mTorr, 40:1.2 sccmCF₄:O₂, 10 W, 10 min). 47. Remove PR. Acetone rinse. 48. RIE (50 mTorr,20 sccm O₂, 150 W, 13 min). 49. BOE for 40 s. 50. Sputter 3/150/3 nm ofCr/Au/Cr. 51. PECVD 200 nm SiO²⁻ 52. HMDS 1.5 min. 53. Pattern PR.Deposit 54. RIE (50 mTorr, 40:1.2 sccm CF₄:O₂, 150 W, 10 min). {closeoversize brace} and pattern 55. Wet etch Cr/Au/Cr for 20/40/20 s(Transene etchants). metal layer 56. Remove PR. Acetone rinse. 57.Remove SiO₂. BOE for 60 s. 58. Spin coat with PI. 59. Anneal a 110° C.for 3 min, at 150° C. for 10 min. 60. Anneal a 250° C. for 2 h in N₂atmosphere. 61. UVO treatment for 5 min. 62. PECVD 200 nm SiO²⁻. 63.HMDS 1.5 min. 64. Pattern PR. Deposit PI and 65. RIE (50 mTorr, 40:1.2sccm CF₄:O₂, 10 W, 10 min). {close oversize brace} pattern holes for 66.Remove PR. Acetone rinse. oxide box layer 67. RIE (50 mTorr, 20 sccm O₂,150 W, 10 min). etch. 68. Wet etch Cr/Au/Cr for 8/20/8 s. 69. RIE (50mTorr, 20 sccm O₂, 150 W, 13 min). 70. RIE (50 mTorr, 40 sccm SF₆, 100W, 5.5 min). 71. BOE for 40 s. 72. UVO treatment for 5 min 73. PECVD 200nm SiO²⁻ 74. HMDS 1.5 min. 75. Pattern PR. {close oversize brace} PIisolation 76. RIE (50 mTorr, 40:1.2 sccm CF₄:O₂, 150 W, 10 min). 77.Remove PR. Acetone rinse. 78. RIE (50 mTorr, 20 sccm O₂, 150 W, 16 min).79. HF for 30 min to etch oxide box layer and release array from handlewafer. 80. Transfer and printing processes.

Fabricating the Hemispherical PDMS Transfer Element: Casting and curingprocedures form these transfer elements or stamps out of PDMS obtainedfrom a commercial vendor (Sylgard 184, Dow Corning). FIG. 21 shows thejig and the opposing convex and concave lenses (radius of curvature of12.9 mm and diameter of 25.4 mm) used for this purpose. The convex lenswas made of PDMS and was molded from the concave glass lens. FIG. 22provides a cross sectional illustration of the hemispherical transferelement with the important dimensions. Note the large, raised rim aroundthe perimeter of the element (rim width is 1.5, 2.0 or 2.5 mm). Thisfeature matches paddle arms in the tensioning stage described next. FIG.23 shows a top view illustration of the PDMS transfer element in itsrelaxed and tensioned state, with a to-scale illustration of the focalplane array overlaid.

Stretching the PDMS Transfer Element and Transfer Printing: A speciallydesigned radial tensioning stage provided a reproducible, controlledmeans to expand the hemispherical PDMS transfer element into a flat,drumhead state. FIG. 24 provides a computer aided design drawing of thissystem based on a scroll plate design. Ten separate paddle arms move ina coordinated fashion in the radial direction by an amount that can becontrolled using a manual rotary stage. The raised rim of the PDMSelement mounts onto the paddles. FIG. 25 shows images of the stage andan element in various stages of the stretching process. Referring toFIG. 25, holder 110 is capable of securably receiving a stamp 100. Forcegenerator 120 is operably connected to the holder 110 for generating aforce on a stamp mounted therein to substantially flatten the stamp (seeright-most panel). FIG. 25 shows a stamp that is ahemispherically-shaped PDMS transfer element and a force generator 120comprising a radial tensioning stage with ten paddle arms. FIG. 26 showsan image after liftoff of the array and removal from the tensioningstage, corresponding to the next to last frame in FIG. 14. Note thatthis array is a higher density array of passive silicon elements (20×20μm, with 50 nm thickness) and nearest neighbor connections (20×4 μm,with 50 nm thickness).

The spatial distributions of the pixels in such an array are importantto quantify and understand. FIG. 27 shows in a sequence of framescorresponding to the process that we used to evaluate thesedistributions. A top view optical image (top frame) is converted tobinary format (middle frame), from which specially developed softwarelocates the centers of the pixels and returns the coordinates (bottomframe).

Integrating with Hemispherical Cap and Imaging Lens: FIG. 28 shows crosssectional schematic illustrations and computer aided design drawings ofthe hemispherical cap and integrated imaging lens, with key dimensions.These components complete the cameras, but they do not representcritical design components.

Imaging with the Camera: Mounting the focal plane arrays on speciallydesign printed circuit boards, forming interconnections and integratingwith mux/demux electronics and software control systems enables imageacquisition. For electrical connections to the circuit board, we useelectron beam evaporation of Cr/Au through flexible shadow masks drapedover the edge of the hemispherical camera substrate. FIG. 29 shows themux/demux electronics, and FIG. 30 provides a circuit diagram of thesesystems. The current responses at an applied bias of 4 V were measuredfor all the pixels in the 16 by 16 hemispherical camera used to generatethe results of FIGS. 17A-17F. See FIG. 57. Three different lightintensities ranging from bright laser light (514.5 nm) to completedarkness have been used to test the detector arrays. A good range ofsensitivity has been achieved for the photodetecting pixels, fromcurrent responses of 400˜800 nA at the highest brightness to 0.5˜2 nA inthe dark state. The maps illustrate the distribution of measuredresponses throughout the hemispherical detector array and highlight theresponse uniformity (two pixels with the non-ideal response of largecurrent in the dark are visible here). The grayscale images (e.g., FIG.17F and FIG. 53 a,b) represent the response signals for each pixel afternormalization using the equationSignal=(I_(signal)−I_(min))/(I_(max)−I_(min)), where I_(signal) is themeasured current at the exposure condition, I_(max) is the measuredreference current at the brightest condition (maximum current), andI_(min) is the measured reference current at the dark condition (minimumcurrent). FIG. 58 contains an electrical response characterization ofthe pixels in the 16 by 16 planar camera; high pixel yields also wereachieved in cameras with this geometry (3 out of 256 pixels have a lesssensitive response).

FIG. 31 demonstrates the optical setup used to image with thehemispherical detector. Green laser light (514.5 nm) is fed through anoptical fiber to a fiber optics coupler and a beam expander (ThorlabsBE15M), and then onto a transparency film with an about 1 cm² areaprinted image generated using a commercial laser printer (1200 dpi). Theprojected image passed through a plano-convex lens (Thorlabs BPX055 andonto the hemispherical electronic eye camera. Two rotating motors areused to scan the image over nearly the entire surface of the detectorand maintain an eccentric point at the optical axis. FIG. 32 shows thecomputer user interface. The computer user interface used to captureimages with the cameras was written in National Instruments LabView andis shown in FIG. 32. The maximum acquisition rate of the cameras (˜1frame per second) was limited by the control system and could beimproved by adding more sophisticated electronics. The minimumacquisition time for an individual pixel was determined to be 15 ms aslimited by the control electronics. Videos demonstrate the dataacquisition process using a hemispherical camera, as well as thedetector rotations necessary to achieve higher resolution images.

FIGS. 54 and 55 present the images acquired by each pixel in thehemispherical 16 by 16 detector array as they are scanned over theentire image. The camera scanned from −40 to 40° in both the θ and φdirections in 0.5° increments, with the center of the detector arraypositioned at θ=0° and φ=0°. This 0.5° scanning resolution correspondsto ˜7-8 steps between pixels in the detector array. The yield offunctioning pixels is high; only 2 out of 256 pixels, those at (row,column) positions (2,1) and (4,7), have a less sensitive response duringimaging and should not be utilized.

Comparison of aberrations/distortions in hemispherical and planardetectors: Experiments A comparison of focusing abilities forhemispherical and planar detectors required non-collimated light sourcesand a wide aperture for a large field of view. These two conditionsallow imaging with light that is non-paraxial and simulates the standardoperation mode of photographic cameras. The optical test setup formaking the focusing comparison in FIGS. 53 c-f used rear-illumination ofa black and white pattern printed on paper with halogen lamps. A pair ofoptical filters limited the incident light wavelength to ˜620-700 nm andminimized contributions from chromatic aberrations. The paper aided indiffusion of the light from the lamps. A high numerical apertureplano-convex lens (Edmund Optics PCX NT45-083; diameter=12 mm; focallength=12 mm) was used for the imaging optics with the convex sidetowards the light source. The lens to object distance was fixed at 62.85mm.

Two types of planar screens were used to demonstrate the curvilinearshape of the optimal focal surface. FIG. 56 shows high resolutionphotographs of the projected images on a planar screen (35 mmphotographic plastic film) obtained using a commercial camera (CanonEOS30D with a Canon Macro Lens EF 100 mm f/1:2.8 USM). FIG. 59 containsimages acquired using the fabricated planar cameras (16 by 16 pixels)when scanned in the x and y directions from −460 to 460 μm in 92 μmincrements. A series of such images were collected for detector to lens(planar side) distances ranging from 5.85 to 22.05 mm. The position ofbest focus shifts from the center to the edge of the image withdecreasing detector to lens distance, thereby indicating that theoptimal focal surface is highly curved and non-planar.

The fabricated hemispherical camera (16 by 16 pixels) was also used toimage this same setup at varying positions along the optical axis (FIG.60). Scanning of the detector from −2 to 2° in both the θ and φdirections in 0.4° increments followed by image reconstruction generatedhigh resolution photographs. The quality of focus obtained is consistentthroughout each image, with an optimal focus being achieved for thedetector position z≈16.65 mm. The hemispherical detector surfaceprovides improved imaging compared to planar detectors with betterfocusing, fewer distortions, and a wider field of view.

Comparison of aberrations/distortions in hemispherical and planardetectors: Theory: The laws of geometric optics allow for single planaror curved object surfaces to be imaged perfectly onto a curved imageplane, though the image may be distorted. Distortion is a purelygeometric effect that does not influence the sharpness of the images andcan be removed. We performed ray tracing analysis with a commercialsoftware program (Rayica) to compare distortions and defocusing on thefabricated hemispherical and planar detectors. The rays passed through aplano-convex lens (Edmund Optics PCX NT45-803) and onto the screens. Anapproximation to the optimal image surface was constructed by fitting aparaboloid of revolution, with a general form of z=16.65−0.105r², to thelocations of the smallest focal spots (the root mean square of theintensity was minimized) formed by a set point objects arrayed on a linethrough the focal surface. Although the fabricated hemisphericaldetectors and the optics are not matched to achieve perfect imaging,significant reductions in both distortion and defocusing over planardetectors were observed.

The single lens system is perhaps the simplest example of how a curveddetector could be used to improve camera performance. Since flatelectronic detectors were introduced, there has been a trend to designboth the optics and signal processing of cameras in an integratedmanner, even to the extent that the signal recorded by the detector maynot be recognizable as an image before processing. We expect ourfabrication technique, which removes the design restriction that thedetector arrays be planar, to allow further optimizations to be made.

Mapping of Silicon Elements onto a Hemisphere: A simple mechanics model,based on plate theory, and confirmed using established finite elementanalysis techniques, shows how the silicon elements are mapped from theflat to hemisphere. FIG. 33 illustrates the mapping of silicon elementsonto a hemisphere. A PDMS hemispherical cap of radius R (FIG. 33A) isfirst stretched to a flat plate of radius r₁ (FIG. 33B), which isfurther stretched to radius r₂ (FIG. 33C) to transfer the siliconelements of size L_(Si) and spacing L₀ (FIG. 33D). The release oftension first leads to an approximately flat plate of radius r₁′ (FIG.33E), and the further release leads to a new hemisphere of radius R′(FIG. 33F).

The above mapping process has been studied via the finite elementmethod. Shell elements are used to model the PDMS hemispherical cap.FIG. 34A shows the original mesh for the PDMS hemispherical cap in FIG.33A, while FIG. 34B shows the deformed mesh when the hemisphere is justflattened to a plate (when the edge of deformed hemisphere approximatelyreaches the same height as the plate center), corresponding to FIG. 33B.The (axisymmetric) strain distribution in the flattened plate shown inFIG. 34C clearly suggests that the meridional strain is negligible(<<circumferential strain), ∈_(meridional)≈0. This gives the arc lengthRφ of the hemisphere to be the same as the radius r₁ of the flattenedplate,

Rφ=r ₁.

This is validated by the finite element analysis shown in FIG. 34D. Thecircumferential strain is then given by

${ɛ_{circumferential} \approx \frac{\phi - {\sin \; \phi}}{\sin \; \phi}},$

which agrees well with the finite element analysis, as shown in FIG.34C.

The additional strains due to further stretching in FIG. 33C are uniformthroughout the plate. The transfer of silicon elements in FIG. 33D donot introduce any strains.

Since the Young's modulus of silicon (130 GPa) is 5 orders of magnitudestiffer than the Young's modulus of PDMS (2 MPa), the strains in siliconelements are rather small, which prevents the PDMS underneath thesilicon elements from being released during the relaxation to the flatstage shown in FIG. 33E. For PDMS not covered by the silicon elements,its length is reduced from L₀ to

$\frac{r_{1}}{r_{2}}{L_{0}.}$

Therefore the radius of relaxed plate in FIG. 33E becomes

$r_{1}^{\prime} = {\frac{{L_{Si}r_{2}} + {L_{0}r_{1}}}{L_{Si} + L_{0}}.}$

For the hemispherical PDMS transfer element in FIG. 22 and L_(Si)=500μm, L₀=420 μm, the above formula gives r₁′=7.83 mm, which agrees wellwith the radius r₁′=7.71 mm obtained by the finite element method tomodel the PDMS and silicon by the shell. FIG. 35A shows the deformedshape of the flat, relaxed PDMS and silicon.

For the further release to the hemispherical cap (FIG. 33F), FIG. 35Bgives the deformed shape of the spherical, relaxed PDMS and silicon. Itis approximately a hemisphere with slightly larger radius R′=13.4 mm dueto the stiffening effect of silicon elements. The mechanics analysisgives the new radius

${R^{\prime} = {{R\left( {1 - f} \right)}\left( {1 + {\frac{f}{1 - f}\frac{r_{2}}{r_{1}}}} \right)^{3/2}}},$

which is R′=14.3 mm, and agrees reasonably well the finite elementanalysis, where

$f = \frac{{NL}_{Si}^{2}}{\pi \; r_{2}^{2}}$

is the area fraction of the silicon elements on the PDMS surface, and Nis the number of silicon elements.

FIG. 36 shows the images obtained by the finite element method of themapping process schematically illustrated in FIG. 33. FIG. 61 shows thespatial distribution of elements in a 16 by 16 array transferred to ahemispherical PDMS element as predicted by the mechanics model and asmeasured during fabrication (see FIG. 27). The pixel positions given bythe mechanical models agree well with the experiments without parameterfitting. These mechanics models indicate very small, ˜3%, changes(maximum to minimum) in the local pitch across the entire area, withsmooth, deterministic variations in this quantity. The relativelyuniform pitch is ˜10% smaller than the initial value before the PDMS isrelaxed.

Arc-Shaped Connections between Silicon Elements: The nature of thecompressibility provided by the narrow, thin interconnects betweenadjacent unit cells also can be understood through theoretical analysis(see FIG. 37). The SEM image in FIG. 37 provides a high magnificationview of a unit cell in a high-density passive Si array transferred to ahemispherical surface (from FIG. 52); In silico analysis providesresults in the form of color overlays of the arc shapes and thedistributions of strain. The arc-shape of connections between siliconelements shown in FIG. 37A can be represented by an out-of-planedisplacement, ω, of the arc-shaped connections that take the form:

${w = {\frac{A}{2}\left( {1 + {\cos \frac{2\; \pi \; x}{L}}} \right)}},$

where A is the amplitude, x is the position along the connection and Lis the lateral separation distance between adjacent pixel elements. Thedistance L₀=20 μm is measured in the as-fabricated planar configuration.This equation satisfies vanishing displacement and slope at the two ends(x=±L/2). The in-plane displacement can then be obtained from the forceequilibrium. These give the bending energy

$U_{b} = \frac{\pi^{4}{Eh}^{3}A^{2}}{12\left( {1 - v^{2}} \right)L_{0}^{3}}$

and membrane energy

$U_{m} = {\frac{{EhL}_{0}}{2\left( {1 - v^{2}} \right)}{\left( {\frac{\pi^{2}A^{2}}{4\; L_{0}^{2}} - \frac{L_{0} - L}{L_{0}}} \right)^{2}.}}$

The energy minimization

$\frac{\partial\left( {U_{b} + U_{m}} \right)}{\partial A} = 0$

gives the amplitude A yields an analytical expression for the amplitude

${A = {{\frac{2\; L_{o}}{\pi}\sqrt{\frac{L_{o} - L}{L_{o}}}} - ɛ_{c}}},$

where, ∈_(c), the critical buckling strain, is given by ∈_(c)=π²h²/(3L₀²), where h is the thickness; its value is 0.0021% for the system shownhere. For L=17.5 μm, the amplitude A=4.50 μm agrees well with theexperiments A=4.76 μm. The maximum strain in the connections is ˜0.5%,substantially below the fracture strain for the silicon.

Strain Distributions in Silicon Elements: Mechanics models can alsoreveal the distribution of strains and displacements in the squaresilicon elements. As shown in FIG. 37B, the out-of-plane displacementsin connections impose bending moments M (and axial force F) to thesilicon elements, which are modeled as two-dimensional plates. Thebending energy in the silicon elements is obtained in terms of itsout-of-plane displacement w via the plate theory. The PDMS substrate ismodeled as a semi-infinite solid subjected to the surface displacementw, and its strain energy is also obtained in terms of w. Thedisplacement w can be expanded to the Fourier series, with thecoefficients to be determined by minimizing the total energy. Thebending strains in silicon elements can then be obtained from thecurvatures, which are the second order derivatives of w. The strains dueto the axial force are shown to be negligible as compared to the bendingstrains. The maximum out-of-plane displacements are very small (<0.1μm), as are the strains ∈_(xx) and ∈^(yy) (<0.08%), as determined by insilico experiments described herein. The strain ∈_(xx) in the Si elementreaches the peak near the interconnections in the x-direction, while thepeak of ∈_(yy) occurs near those in the y-direction.

References: Walther, A. The Ray and Wave Theory of Lenses, CambridgeUniversity Press, Cambridge, UK (1995). Rayica 3.0, Optica Software,Champaign, Ill., USA (2007). Mathematica 6.01, Wolfram Research,Champaign, Ill., USA (2007). Mait, J. N., Athale, R. & van der Gracht,J. Evolutionary paths in imaging and recent trends, Opt. Express 18,2093-2101 (2003).

FIGS. 46-51 summarize a process for making a multilayer functional layerdevice by patterning and printing layer-by-layer.

Example 3 CMOS Integrated Circuits with Monolithically IntegratedStretchable Wavy Interconnects

Stretchable CMOS circuits comprising ultrathin active devicesmechanically and electrically connected by narrow metal lines andpolymer bridging structures are presented. This layout, together withdesigns that locate the neutral mechanical plane near the criticalcircuit layers yields strain independent electrical performance andrealistic paths to circuit integration. Mechanical and electricalmodeling and experimental characterization reveal the underlying physicsof these systems.

Stretchable electronics is emerging as a technology that could bevaluable for various applications, such as conformal personal orstructural health monitors and hemispherical detector arrays. Suchdevices cannot be accomplished with conventional wafer based circuits oreven with more recent systems that offer simple mechanical bendability.Presently, two approaches exist for achieving stretchability via the useof elastomeric substrates: one uses rigid device islands interconnectedby separately fabricated stretchable interconnects; another exploitsfully stretchable devices and integrated circuit systems. A disadvantageof the former is that large scale integration can be difficult, due tothe nature of the fabrication procedures. The latter suffers from slightchanges in device characteristics that can be induced by the strainsassociated with stretching. Here we present an approach that combinesthese two concepts, in a way that naturally incorporates the strengthsof each. These systems comprise complete integrated circuits formed onultrathin flexible plastic supports that are patterned in a manner thatisolates the interconnects and mechanical bridging structures. Bondingto a prestrained rubber substrate followed by relaxing of this prestrainleads to systems with monolithically integrated, stretchable ‘wavy’interconnects and bridges. Mechanical response to stretching involves,primarily, deformations only in these interconnects and bridges, therebyavoiding unwanted strains in the regions of the active devices. Wedemonstrate these concepts through comprehensive mechanical analysis andelectrical characterization of stretchable complementary metal oxidesemiconductor (CMOS) circuits based on single crystalline silicon.

FIG. 62 a shows a schematic illustration of the fabrication of this typeof system, for the case of CMOS inverter logic gates, using proceduresderived from those provided herein. The semiconductor consisted of dopednanoribbons of single crystalline silicon, transfer printed onto acarrier wafer coated with a bilayer of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA,MicroChem, USA) and polyimide (PI, Sigma Aldrich, USA) havingthicknesses of 100 nm and 1.2 μm. Gate dielectrics, source, drain andgate electrodes and appropriate interconnects and vias were thenfabricated with conventional semiconductor processes. Spin coating theresulting circuits with a layer of PI layer (˜1.2 μm) positioned thecircuit layers near the neutral mechanical plane of the compositestructure. Next, a reactive ion etching process with photoresist andSiO² as masking layers removed regions of the PI encapsulant, substrateand underlying PMMA layer, to isolate the interconnect lines, to definestructural bridges and to create a periodic array of circular openings.These openings facilitated the dissolution of the PMMA with acetone, torelease ‘segmented’ ultrathin circuits. Depositing Cr/SiO² (3 nm/30 nm)onto the backside of lifted-off circuits enabled covalent bonding to apiece of prestrained Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS, Dow Corning, USA) whosesurface was chemically activated by exposure to ultraviolet inducedozone. Thermal expansion of the PDMS (to 160° C.) provided biaxialprestrains of ˜3.9%. Releasing the prestrain induced the formation of‘wavy’ structures in the narrow interconnects and structural bridges, asshown in second frame of FIG. 62 a and FIG. 62 b. The ‘island’ regionscontaining the active devices remained largely unperturbed. FIG. 62 cprovides a magnified view of this type of wavy CMOS inverter, whichshows clearly the flat island region with wavy metal and PIinterconnects. The top layer PI provides a neutral mechanical planedesign to help avoid cracking of the metal associated with bending intothe wavy shapes, as schematically shown in the bottom frame of FIG. 62a. Full three dimensional finite element modeling of this systemexhibits good agreement with observations, as shown in FIG. 62 d. Thesimulations were performed using the nonlinear finite element analysispackage ABAQUS 3 to follow the same fabrication steps as in theexperiments.

We performed stretching tests on these inverters, in both the x and ydirections (FIG. 44A). Due to the ability of the wavy interconnects andbridges to absorb applied strains, the islands do not show significantdeformations even for local strains of 3.7%. Behaviors consistent withthe Poisson effect can also be observed in profiles of FIG. 44B. Inparticular, when we stretch the PI bridge in y direction, the metalbridge experiences compression (and vice versa), such that thewavelength decreased from 120 μm to 116 μm, while the amplitudeincreased from 17 μm to 26 μm, as shown in top two frames of FIG. 44B.Also when the metal bridge is stretched in x direction, the PI bridge iscompressed, thereby the wavelength of PI bridge changes from 122 μm to103 μm and amplitude from 18 μm to 24 μm, as in bottom frames of FIG.44B. The electrical properties are consistent with this mechanics ofdeformation. In the as-fabricated state, without applied strain, theinverters showed expected transfer characteristics with gains as high as˜70, consistent with PSPICE simulation based on separate measurements ofindividual transistors (FIG. 63, top left). The mobilities were ˜310cm²/Vs and ˜150 cm²/Vs for nMOS and pMOS devices, with on/offratios >105 for both types of devices (FIG. 63, top right inset). Forthe CMOS inverters, the channel lengths and widths were 13 μm and 100 μmfor nMOS and 13 μm and 300 μm for pMOS, respectively. Under variousapplied strains, the electrical properties showed little variation. Forexample, the inverter threshold voltage changed by less than ˜0.5V forstrains between ˜3.7% in x direction and ˜3.7% in y direction, as shownin the top-right frame of FIG. 63. Also FIG. 63 (bottom frames) shows IVcurves, in which solid lines are experimental results and dotted linesare estimated simulation results by PSPICE. These strain independentbehaviors represent significant improvements over similar circuits thatdo not use isolated interconnect and bridge structures, therebyvalidating the designs introduced here. Mechanics analysis is consistentwith these observations. For the prestrain 3.9% in experiments,mechanics analysis based on energy minimization gives the wavelength 127μm and amplitude 18.6 μm for the metal bridge, which agree well withexperimental values 120 μm and 17 μm, respectively. The maximum strainin the Si layer is only 0.04%. Even for a much larger prestrain 10%, themaximum strains in the Si, metal and SiO₂ layers are 0.07%, 0.50% and0.73%, respectively, which are one third to one half of theircounterparts without isolated interconnect and bridge structures. Thisresult occurs because the bridge structures buckle to accommodate thelarge prestrain, which protects the device islands from buckling andtherefore reduces the strain. Also, the top PI layer shifts the neutralmechanical plane in a way that further reduces the strain.

The inverters in FIGS. 44, 62 and 63 can also be stretched in any angle.The angled stretching is equivalent to stretching along the bridgedirections x and y plus an in-plane shear. Since the thickness (˜2.5 μm)is much less than the width (˜100 μm), the large inplane shear leads to“lateral buckling” out of the plane such that the strains remain small.This mechanics is related to that of a mesh based approach described bySomeya et al. In those systems, rotation and bending of struts in themesh provide large degrees of stretchability in certain, but not all,directions. This type of approach, which is interesting and useful formany applications, is fully compatible with the layouts and fabricationapproaches presented here.

This strategy can be applied not only to inverters, but also to morecomplex circuits. FIG. 45 shows, as an example, three stage CMOS ringoscillators and stretching tests in the x and y directions. Thegeometries of the transistors and the PDMS prestrain were the same asthose for the inverters discussed previously. In this circuit, all nMOSand pMOS islands were interconnected with 4 horizontal and 3 verticalinterconnects, and each ring oscillator was connected with structuralbridges, as illustrated in FIG. 45. The oscillation frequency is ˜2.3MHz at a supply voltage of 10 V. The change in frequency with stretchingis less than 0.3 MHz, up to strains of nearly 4% (FIG. 45C). As with theindividual inverters, this level of strain independent performancerepresents an important improvement over previous results.

In conclusion, by structuring the types of ultrathin substratesimplemented in separately reported stretchable circuit designs, it ispossible to localize mechanical deformations in noncritical regions toremove any measurable dependence of the electrical performance onapplied strain. This simple design concept is validated by mechanicsanalysis and electrical measurements on representative circuits.

-   D.-H. Kim, J.-H. Ahn, W. M. Choi, H.-S. Kim, T.-H. Kim, J.    Song, Y. Y. Huang, Z. Liu, C. Lu and J. A. Rogers, Science 25, 507    (2008).-   D.-H. Kim, J.-H, Ahn, H.-S. Kim, K. J. Lee, T.-H. Kim, C.-J.    Yu, R. G. Nuzzo and J. A. Rogers. IEEE Electron Device Lett 20, 73    (2008).-   S. Timoshenko and J. Gere. Theory of Elastic Stability. McGraw-Hill,    New York (1961).-   T. Someya, Y. Kato, T. Sekitani, S. Lba, Y. Noguchi, Y. Murase, H.    kawaguchi, and T. Sakurai. Proceedings of the National Academy of    Sciences 102, 12321 (2005).

Example 4 Materials and Non-Coplanar Mesh Designs for IntegratedCircuits with Linear Elastic Responses to Extreme MechanicalDeformations

Electronic systems that offer elastic mechanical responses to highstrain deformations are of growing interest, due to their ability toenable new biomedical devices and other applications whose requirementsare impossible to satisfy with conventional wafer-based technologies oreven with those that offer simple bendability. This example introducesmaterials and mechanical design strategies for classes of electroniccircuits that offer extremely high stretchability, enabling them toaccommodate even demanding configurations such as corkscrew twists withtight pitch (e.g. 90 degrees in ˜1 cm) and linear stretching to‘rubber-band’ levels of strain (e.g. up to ˜140%). The use of singlecrystalline silicon nanomaterials for the semiconductor providesperformance in stretchable complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor(CMOS) integrated circuits approaching that of conventional devices withcomparable feature sizes formed on silicon wafers. Comprehensivetheoretical studies of the mechanics reveal the way in which thestructural designs enable these extreme mechanical properties withoutfracturing the intrinsically brittle active materials or even inducingsignificant changes in their electrical properties. The results, asdemonstrated through electrical measurements of arrays of transistors,CMOS inverters, ring oscillators and differential amplifiers, suggest avaluable route to high performance stretchable electronics.

Increasingly important classes of application exist for electronicsystems that cannot be formed in the usual way, on semiconductor wafers.The most prominent example is in large area electronics (e.g. backplanesfor liquid crystal displays), where overall system size, rather thanoperating speed or integration density, is the most important metric.Similar systems that use flexible substrates are presently the subjectof widespread research and commercialization efforts, due to advantagesthat they offer in durability, weight and ease of transport/use.^(1,2)Stretchable electronics represents a fundamentally different and evenmore challenging technology, of interest for its unique ability to flexand conform to complex curvilinear surfaces such as those of the humanbody. Several promising approaches exist, ranging from the use ofstretchable interconnects between rigid amorphous silicon devices³ to‘wavy’ layouts in single crystalline silicon CMOS circuits⁴, both onelastomeric substrates, to net shaped structures in organic electronicson plastic sheets⁵. None offers, however, the combination of electricalperformance, scalability and mechanical properties required of some ofthe most demanding, and most interesting, systems. Here, we introducenew design concepts for stretchable electronics that exploitsemiconductor nanomaterials (i.e. silicon nanoribbons) in ultrathin,mechanically neutral circuit layouts integrated on elastomericsubstrates in non-coplanar mesh designs, with certain features inspiredby methods recently reported for transforming planar optoelectronicsinto hemispherical shapes for electronic eye cameras⁶. As demonstratedin diverse circuit examples, these ideas accomplish a form ofstretchable electronics that uniquely offers both high performance andan ability to accommodate nearly any type of mechanical deformation tohigh levels of strain. Experimental and theoretical studies of theelectrical and mechanical responses illuminate the key materials andphysics aspects associated with this new type of technology.

FIG. 64 a schematically illustrates steps for fabricating arepresentative system that consists of a square array of CMOS inverters.The overall process can be divided into two parts. The first definesCMOS circuits on ultrathin plastic substrates using printing methods andsingle crystalline silicon nanoribbons, according to proceduresdescribed previously⁷. For all of the results reported here, the ribbonshad thicknesses of 260 nm and 290 nm for p-channel and n-channel metaloxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs), respectively.The gate dielectric consisted of a 50 nm thick layer of SiO₂ depositedby plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. The same type of filmformed an interlayer dielectric for metal (Ti:5 nm/Au:150 nm)interconnect lines and electrodes. The plastic substrate consisted of athin layer (1.2 μm) of polyimide (PI) supported by a carrier wafer (testgrade silicon) coated with a film (100 nm) of poly(methylmethacrylate)(PMMA)⁸. A thin top coating of PI (1.2 μm), with etched (reactive ionetching; RIE) holes for electrical access, protected the circuits andplaced the most fragile components near the neutral mechanical plane⁴.Individual devices fabricated in this manner exhibited device mobilitiesof ˜130 and ˜370 cm²/Vs for p channel and n channel MOSFETs,respectively, with on/off ratios >10⁶ and operating voltages in therange of <5V. The second part of the fabrication process involvesstructuring the circuits into non-coplanar layouts intimately integratedwith elastomeric substrates to yield systems with reversible, elasticresponses to extreme mechanical deformations. In the first step towardachieving this outcome, certain regions of the PI/PMMA between theelectronic components of the system, were removed by RIE through apatterned layer of photoresist. The result was a segmented mesh withactive device islands connected electrically and/or mechanically by thinpolymer bridges with or without metal interconnect lines, respectively.Immersion in acetone washed away the PMMA layer to release the systemfrom the carrier. Lifting off the patterned circuit sheet onto a slab ofpoly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) exposed its underside for deposition of athin layer of Cr/SiO₂ (3 nm/30 nm) at the locations of the islands byelectron beam evaporation through an aligned shadow mask. Delivering thecircuit to a biaxially pre-strained substrate of PDMS with its surfaceactivated by exposure to ozone led to the formation of strong mechanicalbonds at the positions of the islands. The interface chemistryresponsible for this bonding involves condensation reactions betweenhydroxyl groups on the SiO₂ and PDMS⁴ to form —O—Si—O— linkages, similarto that described recently for controlled buckling in collections ofsemiconductor nanoribbons⁸. Releasing the pre-strain resulted incompressive forces that caused the connecting bridges to lift verticallyoff the PDMS, thereby forming arc-shaped structures. We refer to thislayout as a non-coplanar mesh design. The localization of thisout-of-plane mechanical response to the bridges results partly fromtheir poor adhesion to the PDMS and partly from their narrow geometriesand low bending stiffnesses compared to the device islands. (This latteraspect allows similar structures to be formed even without the patternedSiO₂ adhesion layer.) The bottom frames of FIG. 64 a and FIG. 64 b showschematic illustrations and scanning electron microscope (SEM) images.In this format, the system can be stretched or compressed to high levelsof strain (up to 100%, and in some cases higher, as describedsubsequently), in any direction or combination of directions both in andout of the plane of the circuit, as might be required to allow complextwisting, shearing and other classes of deformation. The top frames ofFIG. 64 b and FIG. 64 c show images that illustrate some of thesecapabilities, in circuits that use a PDMS substrate with thickness ˜1 mmand a prestrain of ˜17%, as defined by the change in separation betweeninner edges of adjacent device islands. For practical applications, suchsystems are coated with a protective layer of PDMS in a way that doesnot alter significantly the mechanical properties, as arguedsubsequently. For ease of imaging and electrical probing, the circuitsdescribed in the following are all unencapsulated.

The physics of deformation associated with applying tensile orcompressive forces oriented along the directions of the bridges issimilar to that involved in relaxing the prestrain in the circuitfabrication process of FIG. 64. The bridges move up or down(corresponding to decreases or increases in end-to-end lengths,respectively) as the system is compressed or stretched, respectively.Another, less obvious, feature is that the thin, narrow construction ofthese bridges also enables them to twist and shear in ways that canaccommodate more complex distributions of strain. FIG. 64 c shows somerepresentative cases, described in more detail subsequently, fordifferent regions of a system under a complex, twisting deformation. Thebasic mechanics is similar to that of systems that are encapsulated byPDMS. For example, calculation indicates that the maximum strain thatcan be applied to the system, as shown in the bottom frame of FIG. 64 b,reduces by only ˜2.5% due to the addition of a ˜1 mm thick overcoat ofPDMS.

These designs lead to electronic properties that are largely independentof strain, even in extreme configurations such as those illustrated inFIGS. 64 b and 64 c. This feature can be demonstrated explicitly throughdevice and circuit measurements on systems for various, well-definedmechanical deformations induced with custom assemblies of mechanicalstages. The simplest case corresponds to in-plane stretching indirections parallel to the bridges. Testing of this deformation mode wasperformed using three stage ring oscillators, in which each islandsupports an n channel and a p channel MOSFET (channel widths of 100 μmand 300 μm, respectively; channel lengths of 13 μm). Metal electrodes onthe bridges form the required interconnects. FIG. 65 a shows opticalmicrographs of a typical response, for a system fabricated with aprestrain of ˜17%. With stretching in the x direction, the bridgesoriented along x progressively flatten, while those along y rise upslightly, due to the Poisson effect, and vice versa. A critical aspectof the strategy outlined in FIG. 64 is the ability of the non-coplanarstructures to accommodate nearly all of the strains associated with thefabrication process and with deformations that can occur during use.

This mechanical isolation can be seen clearly through finite elementmodeling (FEM) analysis of the tensile strain distribution at the topand bottom surface and midpoint through the thickness of the metal layerin the circuit (FIG. 65 b). For the middle layer, all areas experiencealmost zero strain due to the neutral mechanical plane design.Negligible strains throughout the thickness and in all regions of theislands derive from strain relaxation provided by thebridges/interconnects in the non-coplanar mesh layout. For this example,the change in separation of islands (i.e., prestrain) is ˜17%, whichcorresponds to the system-level strain of ˜11% as defined by the changeof the distances from the outer edges of adjacent device islands.Mechanics analysis based on energy minimization (SupplementaryInformation) gives an amplitude of 116.3 μm for the 445 μm-long bridge,which agrees well with experimental value ˜115 μm. The maximum tensilestrains calculated for the metal layer in the bridges and islands are˜0.11% and ˜0.01%, respectively, while that in the Si layer of theislands is ˜0.01%. These values are all much smaller than the fracturestrains (˜1%) in these materials. The finite element analysis results ofFIG. 65 b are consistent with this analysis. For applied strains between−40% (i.e. compressive) and 17% (tensile), which corresponds to a strainrange of 57%, the mechanical advantage provided by the non-coplanar meshlayout, as defined by the ratio of the system level strain to the peakmaterial strain, is ˜180. Measurements on these oscillators show wellbehaved responses at these strain conditions, and others in between. Theobserved frequencies (˜2 MHz, FIG. 65 c) and other properties of thecircuits and individual devices reported here and elsewhere in thisexample, are comparable to those measured in the initial, planarconfigurations prior to removal from the carrier substrate (FIG. 64 a).

A somewhat more complex deformation mode that involves in-planestretching along an axis not aligned to the bridges illustratesadditional capabilities of the non-coplanar design. Such applied strainscause the bridges not only to flatten, as for the case of FIGS. 65 a-c,but also to rotate and twist out of the plane (FIG. 65 d). Thisdeformation is referred to as lateral buckling¹¹, and can becharacterized by a Bessel function (for tilting) and a sinusoidalfunction (for flattening) to accommodate off-axis stretching(Supplementary Information). Since this type of stretching involvessignificant shear, the principal strain, which combines the tensile andshear strains (See Supplementary Information), replaces the tensilestrain to describe the extent of deformation. For off-axis stretchingthat results in 14% stretching in the bridge and 7.5% shear,minimization of energy (including the twisting energy) gives a maximumprincipal strain 2% and 0.8% in the metal layer of the bridges andislands, respectively, and 0.6% in the Si layer of islands. FEMsimulation of these systems, as illustrated in FIG. 65 e, furtherquantifies the underlying mechanics. The ability of the bridges toabsorb nearly all of these off-axis strains enables excellent device andcircuit performance, with little dependence on strain. FIG. 65 f shows,as an example, transfer characteristics and gains (up to ˜100) measuredon CMOS inverters formed by electrical interconnects on bridges betweenadjacent islands that each support one p channel and one n channelMOSFET. Also electrical simulation of the inverters, using individualtransistor data, agrees with the measurement results (see FIG. 73).These transistors have layouts identical to those in the ringoscillators of FIG. 65 a. Although the deformation modes of FIG. 65 arealso possible with recently reported ‘wavy’ designs⁴, the non-coplanarmesh layouts increase the levels of strain that can be accommodated bymore than five times and they substantially reduce the sensitivity ofelectrical response to strain (i.e. to values close to measurementrepeatability limits for the cases of FIG. 65). In all cases, thedeterministic, linear elastic nature of the underlying mechanics, whicharises from the small strains in the electronic materials and the linearresponse of the PDMS (up to strains of 110%)⁹, leads to little change inproperties even on extensive mechanical cycling, as demonstratedsubsequently (FIG. 68 e).

An extreme type of deformation, which is partly involved in theconfiguration shown in FIG. 64, involves twisting into corkscrew shapeswith tight pitch. Under such applied strain, the bridges deform duemainly to in-plane shear with a magnitude on the order of the ratio of(bridge or island) thickness to length times the rotation angle. Suchtwisting deformation is different from off-axis stretching because itdoes not involve buckling and is therefore amenable to linear analysis.For a 90 degree rotation over a distance corresponding to a pair ofbridges and an island, the maximum shear strains in the metal and Silayers are 0.08% and 0.02%, respectively, for the 445 μm-long bridge and260 μm-long island. The left frame of FIG. 66 a shows an image of acircuit on thin PDMS, in a twisted geometry; the right frame shows amagnified view of a CMOS inverter in this system. As for the previouslydescribed cases, FEM simulation (FIG. 66 b) supports the experimentalobservations and reveals the level of principal strain to be 0.3% in themetal layer of the bridge and the island. An SEM image of aninterconnected array of inverters for a ring oscillator (FIG. 66 c)shows the shape of the twisted bridges. Electrical measurements indicatestable electrical performance before and after twisting, both forinverters (top frame of FIG. 66 d) and ring oscillators (bottom frame ofFIG. 66 d). The electrical properties, in all cases, are comparable tothose described previously. In other words, the systems are, to withinexperimental uncertainty, agnostic to deformation mode for allconfigurations studied here.

FIGS. 64-66 illustrate examples for circuits, such as inverters and ringoscillators, which are straightforward to implement in repetitive,arrayed layouts. More complex, irregular designs might be required inmany cases of practical importance; these can also be implemented innon-coplanar mesh designs. We demonstrate this concept for adifferential amplifier¹⁰, in which we divide the circuit into foursections each of which forms an island connected by metal lines onpop-up bridges. The dotted boxes in the left frame of FIG. 67 ahighlight these four regions; an angled view SEM image in the insetshows the structure. The bridges provide a mechanics that isconceptually similar to those in the regular array layouts, even thoughthe details are somewhat different. As a result, this irregular circuitcan be stretched or twisted reversibly, as shown in FIGS. 67 b and c,respectively. FIG. 67 d shows magnified images of stretching in the xand y direction. Electrical measurements verify that the amplifiers workwell under these deformations. The gains for 0%, 17% x stretching, 17% ystretching and twisting to a full 180 degree rotation of a PDMSsubstrate with a length of ˜2 cm were 1.15, 1.12, 1.15 and 1.09 (designvalue ˜1.2), respectively. Such systems can also be freely deformed, asshown in FIG. 67 f.

Although the materials and mechanical designs described previously canaccommodate larger strains and in more diverse configurations comparedto previous demonstrations, they might not satisfy requirements forcertain advanced device concepts, such as electronics for ‘smart’surgical gloves, where truly ‘rubberband-like’ stretchability (e.g.to >50% strain) is needed. A simple method to increase thestretchability, without changing the materials or layouts in the stacksthat make up the circuits, involves increasing the separations betweenthe device islands and decreasing the thicknesses of the bridges. Thequantitative effects of these parameters on the peak material strain canbe represented by a simple analytical relation, presented in theSupplementary Information, for the approximate case that the islands arestrictly rigid and remain planar. As an example, for square islands withwidths/lengths of 260 μm and spaced by 445 μm, the peak strains in thematerials at the surfaces of bridges with thicknesses of 0.8 μm are 1%for 50% compressive strains applied to the system starting from a flat,planar state. If the materials in the bridges fail at ˜1% strain (i.e. aworst case scenario, in which neutral mechanical designs are not used),then the maximum system strain is 50%. Increasing the spacing to ˜604 μmor decreasing the bridge thicknesses to ˜0.56 μm, improves the maximumsystem strain to ˜100%. To expand the deformability even further,without increasing the sparseness of the distribution of islands,serpentine bridges can be used. FIG. 68 a shows SEM images of such adesign after executing the fabrication procedures of FIG. 64. Whenexternal strain is applied along the x or y directions, thesenon-coplanar serpentine bridges effectively compensate the appliedstrain non only through changes in height but also by changes ingeometry of the serpentine shape. FIG. 68 b shows images of the responseof a representative device to on-axis stretching strains up to 70%, fora system built with 35% prestrain, in which deformations of theserpentine bridges exhibit changes in configurations that might beexpected intuitively. Remarkably, finite element modeling reveals thateven to stretching strains of 70%, the peak strains in the metal layerin the bridges and islands are 0.2% and 0.5%, respectively and thestrain in silicon is 0.15% as indicated in FIG. 68 c. (The strains reach˜3% in certain locations of the PI.) To explore the limits, we used thinPDMS substrates (0.2 mm) to facilitate stretching to even largerstrains. FIG. 68 d shows a case corresponding to ˜90% pre-strain whichallows stretching to ˜140% strain and corresponds to ˜100% systemstrain. Consistent with the small strains in the active materialsrevealed by FEM, the electrical properties approach those of thecorresponding unstrained, planar systems; the operation is also stableover many cycles (up to 1000, evaluated here) of stretching, asindicated in FIG. 68 e.

Finally, a practical application of popup circuits incorporates anadditional passivation layer (e.g., “encapsulation layer”) on top ofdevices for the protection of active regions from unwanted damages.Therefore, we coated popup circuits with PDMS and cured it after allbridges and islands were embedded by flowing PDMS. This additionalencapsulation approach prevents damages on the device surface. Inaddition, the double neutral mechanical plane can be formed bycontrolling the top and bottom PDMS thickness, which provides additionalmechanical strength for flexing⁴. Even after this encapsulation, thestretchability is not so much changed except for slightly larger strainon bridges due to restricted deformation inside cured PDMS. However, lowmodulus PDMS with extremely low content of curing agent or withoutcuring agent this difference from encapsulation can be minimized.

Collectively, the results presented here provide design rules forcircuits that provide both excellent electrical performance andcapacities to be elastically deformed in diverse configurations to highlevels of strain. The same ideas can, in many cases, be used toadvantage in other conventionally rigid, planar technologies such asphotovoltaics, microfluidics, sensor networks, photonics and others.These and related types of systems access many important newapplications that cannot be addressed with other approaches.

Methods Preparation of Doped Silicon Nanoribbons

Preparation of doped silicon nanoribbons starts with the doping of thetop silicon on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers: nMOS source/draindoping with p-type SOI wafers (SOITEC, France) and pMOS source/draindoping with n-type SOI wafers (SOITEC, France). This process uses plasmaenhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) of silicon dioxide (SiO₂) fora diffusion mask, photolithography and RIE with CF₄/O₂ gas forpatterning, spin coating and high temperature diffusion of Boronspin-on-dopant (B153, Filmtronics, USA) at 1000˜1050° C. for p-type andPhosphorous spin-on-dopant (P509, Filmtronics, USA) at 950° C. forp-type. After doping, ribbons are defined by photolithography and RIE;they are released from the mother wafer by removing the buried oxidelayer of the SOI wafers. These doped nanoribbons are picked up by PDMSand transfer printed to a carrier wafer for circuit integration.

Fabrication of Stretchable Circuits

Doped n-type and p-type nano-ribbons are sequentially transfer printedto a carrier wafer coated with thin layers of PMMA (˜100 nm) as asacrificial layer and PI (˜1.2 μm) as an ultrathin substrate. Aftertransfer printing, 50 nm PECVD SiO₂ is deposited for the gatedielectric, contact windows for source and drain are etched withbuffered oxide etchant, 150 nm metal electrodes are evaporated andpatterned and another PI layer is spin cast for passivation and controlof neutral mechanical plane location. After circuit fabrication, oxygenRIE defines the mesh format. Dissolution of the PMMA layer with acetonereleases the circuits from the carrier wafer. Such circuits aretransferred to mechanically pre-strained PDMS for the formation ofnon-coplanar, ‘pop-up’ layouts. To help define the locations of thepop-up regions, thin layers of Cr and SiO₂ are selectively deposited onthe bottoms of active islands by evaporation through a shadow mask, toenhance the adhesion between these regions of the circuit and PDMS.

Stretching Tests and Electrical Measurements

Stretching tests are performed with automated assemblies of translationsstages, capable of applying tensile or compressive strains in x, y ordiagonal directions. For twisting, edges of the PDMS are mechanicallyclamped with a twist angle of 180°. Electrical measurement are performedwith a probe station (Agilent, 5155C), directly while under stretchingor twisting deformations.

Analytical Calculations of the Non-Coplanar Bridge Structures

The bridge is modeled as a composite beam. Its out-of-plane displacementhas a sinusoidal form with the amplitude determined by energyminimization. The island is modeled as a composite plate. Itsout-of-plane displacement is expanded to as a Fourier series, with thecoefficients determined by energy minimization. The PDMS substrate ismodeled as a semi-infinite solid subjected to a surface displacement,which is same as the out-of-pane displacement of islands. The totalenergy of the system consists of the membrane and bending energy in thebridges, membrane and bending energy in the islands and strain energy inthe substrate. Minimizing the total energy gives the displacements andstrain distributions in bridges and islands.

Finite Element Modeling

Three dimensional finite element models of the systems have beendeveloped using the commercial ABAQUS package. Eight-node, hexahedralbrick elements with four-node multi-layer shell elements are used forthe substrate and the thin film, respectively. The multi-layer shell isbonded to the substrate by sharing the nodes. Each layer of thin film ismodeled as a linear elastic material; the soft, elastomeric substrate ismodeled as an incompressible hyperelastic material. We first determinethe eigenvalues and eigenmodes of the system. The eigenmodes are thenused as initial small geometrical imperfections to trigger the bucklingof the system. The imperfections are always small enough to ensure thatthe solution is accurate. The simulations are performed in the sameprocedure as the key fabrication steps of integrated circuits system.These simulations give an insight to the formation of buckling patterns,the mechanics behavior of the thin film and the nested hierarchy of thestructure.

REFERENCES

-   1. Reuss R. H. et al. (2005) Macroelectronics: Perspectives on    technology and applications. Proc. IEEE. 93:1239-1256.-   2. Reuss R. H. et al. (2006) Macroelectronics. MRS Bull. 31:447-454.-   3. Lacour S. P., Jones J., Wagner S., Li T. & Suo Z. (2005)    Stretchable interconnects for elastic electronic surfaces. Proc.    IEEE. 93:1459-1467.-   4. Kim D.-H. et al. (2008) Stretchable and foldable silicon    integrated circuits. Science 320:507-511.-   5. Someya T. et al. Conformable, flexible, large-area networks of    pressure and thermal sensors with organic transistor active    matrixes. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. (2005) 102:12321-12325.-   6. Ko H. C. et al. (2008) A hemispherical electronic eye camera    based on compressible silicon optoelectronics. Nature, In press.-   7. Kim D.-H. et al. (2008) Complementary logic gates and ring    oscillators plastic substrates by use of printed ribbons    single-crystalline silicon. IEEE Electron Device Lett. 20:73-76.-   8. Sun Y., Choi W. M., Jiang H., Huang Y. Y., Rogers J. A. (2006)    Controlled buckling of semiconductor nanoribbons for stretchable    electronics. Nat. Nanotechnol. 1:201-207.-   9. Schneider F., Fellner T., Wilde J., Wallrabe U., Mechanical    properties of silicones for MEMS. (2008) J. Micromech. Microeng.    18:065008.-   10. Ahn J.-H. et al. (2007) Bendable integrated circuits on plastic    substrates by use of printed ribbons of single-crystalline silicon.    Appl. Phys. Lett. 90:213501.-   11. Bazant Z. P. and Cedolin L. (2003) Stability of Structures,    Dover Publications, New York.

Effective Tensile and Bending Stiffness of Multilayer Stacks:

FIG. 69 shows multilayer stacks with the 1^(st) layer on top and n^(th)layer at the bottom. Their (plane-strain) moduli and thicknesses aredenoted by Ē₁, . . . Ē_(n) and h₁, . . . h_(n), respectively. The lengthand width are denoted by L_(s) and w_(s). The multilayer stacks aremodeled as a composite beam with the effective tensile stiffness¹

$\begin{matrix}{{\overset{\_}{EA} = {w_{s}{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{n}\; {{\overset{\_}{E}}_{i}h_{i}}}}},} & \left( {S{.1}} \right)\end{matrix}$

and effective bending stiffness¹

$\begin{matrix}{{\overset{\_}{EI} = {w_{s}\left\lbrack {{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{n}\; {{\overset{\_}{E}}_{i}{h_{i}\left( {b - {\sum\limits_{j = 1}^{i}\; h_{j}}} \right)}^{2}}} + {\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{n}\; {{\overset{\_}{E}}_{i}{h_{i}^{2}\left( {b - {\sum\limits_{j = 1}^{i}\; h_{j}}} \right)}}} + {\frac{1}{3}{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{n}\; {{\overset{\_}{E}}_{i}h_{i}^{3}}}}} \right\rbrack}},} & \left( {S{.2}} \right)\end{matrix}$

where b is the distance between the neutral mechanical plane to the topsurface, and is given by¹

$\begin{matrix}{b = \frac{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{n}{{\overset{\_}{E}}_{i}{h_{i}\left\lbrack {\left( {\sum\limits_{j = 1}^{i}h_{j}} \right) - \frac{h_{i}}{2}} \right\rbrack}}}{\sum\limits_{j = 1}^{i}{{\overset{\_}{E}}_{i}h_{i}}}} & \left( {S{.3}} \right)\end{matrix}$

Non-Coplanar Bridges Between Islands:

The nature of compressibility obtained from the non-coplanar bridgesconnecting the adjacent islands, shown by the SEM image in FIG. 64 b,can be understood through theoretical analysis (see FIG. 69). Thebridges (n=4, PI/metal/SiO₂/PI: ˜1.2 μm/0.15 μm/0.05 μm/1.2 μm) aremodeled as a composite beam with the effective tensile EA _(bridge) andbending stiffness EI _(bridge) obtained from Eqs. (S.1) and (S.2) forn=4. The elastic moduli and Poisson's ratios are E_(SiO) ₂ =70 GPa,v_(SiO) ₂ =0.17, E_(metal)=78 GPa, v_(metal)=0.44, E_(PI)=2.5 GPa andv_(PI)=0.34.

The out-of-plane displacement, u, of the non-coplanar bridges takes theform

${u = {\frac{A}{2}\left( {1 + {\cos \frac{2\pi}{L_{bridge}}z}} \right)}},$

which satisfies vanishing displacement and slope at the two ends(x=±L_(bridge)/2), where A is the amplitude, x is the position along thebridge and L_(bridge) is the lateral separation distance betweenadjacent islands. The initial distance L_(bridge) ⁰=445 μm is measuredin the as-fabricated configuration. The in-plane displacement can thenbe obtained from the force equilibrium. These give the bending energy

$U_{b} = {{\overset{\_}{EI}}_{bridge}\frac{\pi^{4}A^{2}}{\left( L_{bridge}^{0} \right)^{3}}}$

and membrane energy

$U_{m} = {\frac{1}{2}{{\overset{\_}{EA}}_{bridge}\left\lbrack {\frac{\pi^{2}A^{2}}{4\left( L_{bridge}^{0} \right)^{2}} - \frac{L_{bridge}^{0} - L_{bridge}}{L_{bridge}^{0}}} \right\rbrack}^{2}{L_{bridge}^{0}.}}$

Energy minimization

$\frac{\partial\left( {U_{b} + U_{m}} \right)}{\partial A} = 0$

yields an analytical expression for the amplitude

${A = {\frac{2L_{bridge}^{0}}{\pi}\sqrt{\frac{L_{bridge}^{0} - L_{bridge}}{L_{bridge}} - ɛ_{c}}}},$

where

$ɛ_{c} = {\frac{{\overset{\_}{EI}}_{bridge}}{{\overset{\_}{EA}}_{bridge}}\frac{4\pi^{2}}{L_{0}^{2}}}$

is the critical buckling strain, and is 0.0034% for the system shownabove. For L_(bridge)=370 μm, the analytical expression above give theamplitude A=116.3 μm, which agrees well with the experiments A=115 μm.The corresponding maximum strain in the metal layer of the bridge is˜0.11%, substantially below the fracture strain for the metal.

Strain Distributions in Islands:

The islands (n=5, PI/metal/SiO₂/Si/PI: ˜1.2 μm/0.15 μm/0.05 μm/0.25μm/1.2 μm) are modeled as a composite plate with the effective tensilestiffness EA _(islands) and effective bending stiffness EI _(islands)obtained from Eqs. (S.1) and (S.2) for n=5. The additional elasticproperties beyond those given above are E_(Si)=130 GPa and v_(Si)=0.27.

Mechanics models give the distribution of strains and displacements inthe islands. As shown in FIG. 70( b), the out-of-plane displacements inbridges impose bending moments M (and axial force F) to the island. Thebending energy in the island is obtained in terms of its out-of-planedisplacement u via the plate theory. The PDMS substrate is modeled as asemi-infinite solid subjected to the surface displacement u, and itsstrain energy is also obtained in terms of u. The displacement u isexpanded to the Fourier series, with the coefficients to be determinedby minimizing the total energy. The bending strains in each layer of theislands are obtained from the curvatures, which are the second orderderivatives of u. The maximum out-of-plane displacements are very small(<0.4 μm), as are the strains ∈_(yy) and ∈_(zz) (˜0.01%) in the Silayer. The strain ∈_(yy) in the Si element reaches the peak near theinterconnections in the y-direction, while the peak of ∈_(zz) occursnear those in the z-direction.

Off-Axis Stretching

Off-axis stretching has two effects, namely the axis stretch along thebridge direction and the shear normal to the bridge direction. Suchdeformation is accommodated by lateral buckling, which is characterizedby the sinusoidal function (for axial stretch), and Bessel function (forshear). The out-of-plane rotation φ due to lateral buckling takes theform

$\begin{matrix}{\varphi = \; {B\left\lbrack {{\sqrt{{\frac{2}{L_{bridge}}z}\;}{J_{{- 1}/4}\left( {\frac{13.96403}{L_{bridge}^{2}}z^{3}} \right)}} - {J_{{- 1}/4}(3.49101)}} \right\rbrack}} & \left( {S{.4}} \right)\end{matrix}$

for the symmetric buckling mode, and

$\begin{matrix}{\varphi = {B\left\lbrack {{\sqrt{\frac{2}{L_{bridge}}z}{J_{1/4}\left( {\frac{18.45820}{L_{bridge}^{2}}z^{2}} \right)}} + {\frac{424.956}{L_{bridge}^{3}}z^{3}{\varphi_{p}\left( {\frac{18.45820}{L_{bridge}^{2}}z^{2}} \right)}}} \right\rbrack}} & \left( {S{.5}} \right)\end{matrix}$

for the asymmetric mode, where J_(α)(x) is the Bessel function of ordera, B is the amplitude to be determined by energy minimization, andφ_(p)(x) takes the form

$\begin{matrix}{{\varphi_{p}(x)} = {- {\frac{1}{48\; x^{2}}\begin{bmatrix}{8\sqrt[4]{2^{3}}x^{9/4}\mspace{11mu} {{Hypergeom}\left( {{\frac{3}{4};\frac{5}{4}},{\frac{7}{4};{{- \frac{1}{4}}x^{2}}}} \right)}} \\{{{J_{{- 1}/4}(x)}{\Gamma \left( \frac{3}{4} \right)}} - {6\sqrt{2}\pi \; x^{2}{J_{1/4}(x)}{J_{{- 1}/4}(x)}} +} \\{{6\sqrt{2}\pi \; x^{7/4}{J_{1/4}(x)}{J_{3/4}(x)}{Lommel}\; S\; 1\left( {\frac{1}{4},\frac{7}{4},x} \right)} -} \\{{9\sqrt{2}\pi \; x^{3/4}{J_{1/4}(x)}{J_{3/4}(x)}{Lommel}\; S\; 1\left( {\frac{5}{4},\frac{3}{4},x} \right)} +} \\{6\sqrt{2}\pi \; x^{7/4}{J_{1/4}(x)}{J_{{- 1}/4}(x)}{Lommel}\; S\; 1\left( {\frac{5}{4},\frac{3}{4},x} \right)}\end{bmatrix}}}} & \left( {S{.6}} \right)\end{matrix}$

where Hypergeom(a₁, a₂, . . . ;b₁, b₂, . . . ;x) is the generalizedHypergeometric function, Γ(x) is the Gamma function, and LommelS1(μ, v,x) is the Lommel function. Here a₁, a₂, . . . , b₁, b₂, . . . , μ, v arethe parameters for the special functions.

We first obtain the solution for the bridges subjected to the off-axisstretching by energy minimization (including twisting energy) withrespect to two amplitudes A and B. The reaction forces, bending momentand torques at the bridge/island interconnections are then applied tothe islands to determine the distributions of strains and displacementsin islands.

Principal Strains:

For the structure subjected to ∈_(yy), ∈_(zz), and ∈_(yz), the principalstrains are

$\begin{matrix}{ɛ_{1,2} = {\frac{ɛ_{yy} + ɛ_{zz}}{2} \pm {\sqrt{\left( \frac{ɛ_{yy} + ɛ_{zz}}{2} \right)^{2} + {4ɛ_{yz}^{2}}}.}}} & \left( {S{.7}} \right)\end{matrix}$

The principal strain presented in the paper is ∈₁.

Twisting

Twisting shown in FIG. 66 is different from the off-axis stretchingbecause it doesn't involve lateral buckling. For the multilayer stacksshown in FIG. 69 (stack width>>stack thickness) subjected to a torqueM_(x), only the shear strain ∈_(yz) exists and is given by ²

$\begin{matrix}{ɛ_{yz} = {\frac{M_{x}}{\overset{\_}{GJ}}x}} & \left( {S{.8}} \right)\end{matrix}$

where GJ is the equivalent torsional stiffness and given by

$\begin{matrix}{{\overset{\_}{GJ} = {4{w_{s}\left\lbrack {{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{n}{G_{i}{h_{i}\left( {b - {\sum\limits_{j = 1}^{i}h_{j}}} \right)}^{2}}} + {\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{n}{G_{i}{h_{i}^{2}\left( {b - {\sum\limits_{j = 1}^{i}h_{j}}} \right)}}} + {\frac{1}{3}{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{n}{G_{i}h_{i}^{3}}}}} \right\rbrack}}},} & \left( {S{.9}} \right)\end{matrix}$

where G_(i) is the shear modulus for each layer.

Spacing Effect on Stretchability of Pop-Up Interconnect Structure:

FIG. 71 shows the interconnect structure with the bridge of lengthL_(bridge) ⁰ and island of length L_(island) ⁰. The bridges pop up afterthe prestrain releases and the bridge length L_(bridge) ⁰ changes toL_(bridge), but the island length remains essentially unchanged becausethe elastic rigidity of island is many times larger than that ofbridges. The prestrain at the system level of the pop up structure isthen given by

$ɛ_{pre} = {\frac{L_{bridge}^{0} - L_{bridge}}{L_{bridge}^{0} + L_{bridge}^{0}}.}$

Let ∈_(fracture) (˜1%) denotes the critical strain of fracture of bridgematerial, the maximum prestrain that can be applied in the system isgiven by

$\begin{matrix}{{\left( ɛ_{pre} \right)_{\max} = {\frac{L_{bridge}^{0}}{L_{island}^{0} + L_{bridge}^{0}}\left( \frac{L_{bridge}^{0}ɛ_{fracture}}{2\pi \; h_{bridge}} \right)^{2}}},} & \left( {S{.10}} \right)\end{matrix}$

where h_(bridge) is the bridge thickness and it clearly shows that largespacing (i.e., L_(bridge) ⁰) and small bridge thickness increases themaximum prestrain at the system level. The stretchability of system issimply (∈_(pre))_(max)+∈_(fracture).

Encapsulation Case:

The non-coplanar bridges can be protected by encapsulation with a top,spin cast layer of PDMS. The postbuckling analysis of bridges andislands is coupled. The out-of-displacement in each region has its ownwavelength and amplitude, and across the regions the displacement,rotation, moment and shear force are continuous. The minimization oftotal energy, which consists of the bending and membrane energy of thebridges and the islands, and the strain energy in the substrate, givesthe wavelength and amplitudes in all regions. For example, for a systemlevel applied strain −20% when the prestrain 10.7%, the amplitude ofbridges is 196 μm while that of islands is only 1 μm.

FIG. 72 shows the maximum strains in different device layers versus thesystem level applied strain. The encapsulated system fails before theapplied strain reaches the prestrain, which is different from thatwithout capsulation (i.e., the prestrain plus 1% or 2% of fracturestrain of materials).

REFERENCES

-   ¹D. Gray, S. V. Hoa, and S. W. Tsai, Composite Materials: Design and    Applications, CRC Press, Boca Raton, Fla. (2003).-   ²S. P. Timoshenko and J. N. Goodier, Theory of Elasticity (3^(rd)    edition), McGraw-Hill, New York, 1987.

Example 5 Ultrathin Silicon Circuits with Strain Isolation Layers andMesh Layouts for High Performance Electronics on Fabric, Vinyl, Leatherand Paper

Electronic systems built on plastic sheets, metal foils, rubber slabsand other unusual substrates have great potential for use in conformalimage sensors, flexible displays, biomedical devices and other emergingapplications. Research in this area includes the development of organicconductors and semiconductors materials whose excellent mechanicalflexibility and low temperature processability are attractive for thesesystems. The characteristics of devices that can be achieved with suchmaterials enable electronic paper displays and other important products,but not readily those that require, for example, radio frequencyoperation. Newer research aims to avoid this limitation by exploitingthin films of inorganic materials or assemblies of carbon nanotubes,graphene platelets, nanoparticles, nanowires, nanoribbons ornanomembranes for the semiconductor[. With certain of these materials,it is possible to build high performance circuits that are not onlybendable but are also, in some cases, reversibly stretchable, withelastic responses to compressive and tensile strains of 100% or more.One approach to stretchability relies on semiconductor membranes orribbons in buckled or wavy shapes that accommodate applied strains witha physics similar to an accordion bellows. High performance transistorsand their use in logic gates, ring oscillators and differentialamplifiers suggest the possibility for realistic applications;hemispherical arrays of photodiodes for electronic eye cameras providean example of a system level demonstration. Here, we extend theseconcepts and implement them with a new technique that involves thin, lowmodulus elastomers to isolate the active circuit materials from appliedstrains. The result is a path to high performance silicon complementarymetal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) circuits (or other device technologies)capable of integration on diverse classes of substrates. Examples ofsubstrate of interest for electronics include, but are not limited to,paper, fabric, leather and vinyl, as presented herein. Data indicatethat the electrical performance of representative CMOS components andlogic gates on these substrates can approach those of similar devices onsilicon wafers, without degradation upon bending, folding, draping andother modes of deformation[. Experimental and theoretical studiesdescribed herein support these outcomes and reveal important features ofthe materials and mechanics.

In this example, fabrication begins with the formation of ultrathin CMOScircuits in planar, serpentine mesh geometries using procedures relatedto those reported recently (Kim et al. PNAS USA 2008, 55, 2859).Releasing the circuits from the carrier wafer on which they are formed(FIG. 74A) by dissolving an underlying layer of poly(methylmethacrylate)(PMMA, MicroChem, USA), lifting them onto the surface of apolydimethylsiloxane (PDMS, Dow Corning, USA) stamp, depositing abilayer of Cr/SiO2 (3 nm/30 nm) selectively onto the backsides ofregions of the circuit that correspond to the active device islands byevaporation through an aligned shadow mask and, finally, transferprinting onto a substrate coated with a thin layer of cured PDMScompletes the process (FIG. 74B). Measurements of individual transistorsformed in this manner (FIG. 74D) indicate electron and hole mobilitiesof ˜530 and ˜150 cm²/Vs for n-type MOS (nMOS) and p-type MOS (pMOS)transistors, respectively, and on/off ratios >10⁵ in both cases. Thechannel lengths and widths for devices reported here are 13 μm and 100μm for nMOS and 13 μm and 300 μm for pMOS. Connecting nMOS and pMOSdevices via serpentine interconnects yields inverters with gains as highas 150, consistent with PSPICE simulations (FIG. 74D). Full integratedcircuits can be achieved with similar layouts.

The thin layer of PDMS described above serves two important roles.First, and most simply, it provides an adhesive that bonds certainstrategic regions of the circuits to a wide range of surfaces includingfabric, vinyl, leather and paper, as reported here, in either flat orcurved, balloon-like shapes. In particular, —OH groups associated withthe SiO2 on the backsides of the islands covalently react with the PDMSto form Si—O—Si linkages. Such —OH groups exist naturally on the SiO2and PDMS. Their density can be increased by exposure to ozone, oxygenplasma or other related procedures. The absence of SiO2 on theserpentine interconnects leads to only weak Van der Waals (VdW)interactions in these regions (left frame of FIG. 1C). As a result, uponstretching, compressing or extreme bending, the interconnects lift outof contact with the PDMS to adopt non-coplanar geometries, as shown inthe right scanning electron microscope (SEM) image of FIG. 74C. Thismotion accommodates large tensile or compressive strains in a mannerthat avoids fracture of the interconnects or significant strains in theislands. Similar circuit layouts bonded to the PDMS in all regions showmuch reduced (2-3 times lower) ability to withstand applied strain. Theapproach of FIG. 74 provides large stretchability while avoiding stepsthat use prestrain to create the non-coplanar layouts.

The second important role of the PDMS layer is illuminated by examiningthe mechanics. FIG. 75A shows optical micrographs and finite elementmodeling for the response of a system similar to the one shown in FIG.74 to uniaxial tensile strain. At maximum extension explored here, themodeling indicates peak strains in the metal layer of the interconnectsand in the silicon of the active islands are 0.20% and 0.46%,respectively, i.e., >200 times smaller than the applied strain. Thisbehavior provides utility for stretching/compressing on length scaleslarger than a pair of islands; it cannot accommodate strain localized onindividual islands generated, for example, by a sharp foldingdeformation with a paper substrate. The low modulus PDMS adhesive layersolves this problem, by providing strain isolation. To gain aqualitative understanding, consider limiting cases where the modulus ofthis layer is equal to the underlying substrate and when it isarbitrarily small. In the first situation, bend induced strains insurface mounted circuits depend, approximately, on the ratio of thetotal thickness of the system divided by the radius of curvature of thebend. For a sharp folding deformation, this radius can be very small. Asa result, the strain in an island located at the position of such a foldcan exceed the fracture point of the electronic materials for all butthe thinnest systems (or those with sandwich type neutral mechanicalplane layouts). In the second case, the substrate is weakly mechanicallycoupled to the circuit components, such that bending the substrate leadsto only relatively small bending of the islands. As a result of thismechanics, bend induced strains in the electronic materials are muchlower than would otherwise be expected. It is in this sense, the lowmodulus layer provides strain isolation. Similar arguments can be usedto understand the dependence of the strain on the thickness of thislayer. In an actual system, the moduli and thicknesses of all layers areimportant variables. The key dependencies can be illustrated in asimplified system that consists of a plastic substrate, a PDMS adhesivelayer and a thin silicon layer. The elastic modulus of PDMS is severalorders of magnitude smaller than those of plastics and silicon. Salientfindings of analytical calculations that include all of the mechanics ina rigorous way appear in FIG. 75B. This plot shows the ratio of thesurface strain for a two dimensional system composed of an island ofsilicon (300 nm thick) on a layer of PDMS on a sheet of plastic (100 μmthick), as a function of the width of the silicon and the thickness ofthe PDMS. The results indicate that the isolation efficiency increaseswith increasing PDMS thickness and decreasing silicon width. Forparameters comparable to those of the circuits studied here, theisolation provides ˜100x reduction in strain, thereby enabling extremedegrees of bending even without ultrathin layouts or neutral mechanicalplane designs. The use of this strategy with serpentine meshessimultaneously achieves high bendability and stretchability.

A schematic overview of a stretchable and foldable device 390 isprovided in FIGS. 75C-75E. FIG. 75C is a top-view showing an electronicdevice 420 on a receiving surface 415 of an isolation layer 410. Theelectronic device 420 has bond regions 430 (corresponding to relativelyrigid device islands) and non-bond regions 440 (corresponding to curvedinterconnects) to the isolation layer 410. The isolation layer 410 issupported by receiving substrate 400. FIG. 75D illustrates anencapsulation layer 450 on the top surface of the device 390 and FIG.75E illustrates an encapsulation layer 450 that encapsulates the entiredevice.

FIG. 76A shows the response of the serpentines to spatially non-uniformstrains generated by bending a circuit on a thin sheet of PDMS. Variablelevels of deformation can be seen at the folded corner (right top SEMimage) and at the sides (right bottom SEM image). Bonding the circuit toa thin, low modulus strain isolation and adhesion layer as describedabove provides a strategy for integration with various other kinds ofsubstrates. The top and left bottom frame of FIG. 76B show images andschematic diagrams of CMOS inverters on fabric. “Fabric” refers to amaterial made from a textile, such as a woven textile or cloth andgenerally comprises individual fibers. The inset shows a magnified view.Even after bending to radii of ˜5 mm, the inverter functions well, asshown in the right bottom frame of FIG. 76B. Although this kindelectronic textile offers much better performance than alternativesbased on active threads or fibers it does not offer the potentiallyattractive weaving mode of manufacturing. In this sense, the systemspresented here may complement such fiber based approaches.

A key feature of the example of FIG. 76B is that the PDMS adhesion layerpenetrates into the fibers of the fabric to yield strong adhesionwithout chemical bonding, thereby providing a route to integration thatdoes not depend critically on chemistry. The left frames of FIG. 77 showSEM images of surfaces of vinyl (FIG. 77A), leather (FIG. 77B), paper(FIG. 77C) and fabric (FIG. 77D). The porosity and roughness increasefrom FIGS. 77A to 77D.

The right frames of FIG. 77 show fracture cross-sections of each surfaceafter coating with PDMS (The approximate thickness of PDMS is ˜200 μm,˜100 μm, ˜80 μm and ˜50 μm for vinyl, leather, paper and fabric,respectively.), in a dip casting and thermal curing process. As thesurface porosity increases, the degree of penetration of PDMS into thesubstrate increases, thereby improving the strength of adhesion. In thecase of vinyl, the PDMS coating delaminates upon freeze fracture (FIG.77A). In the case of fabric, the constituent fibers are completelyembedded by the PDMS, leading to strong bonding as indicated by thefracture surface in FIG. 77D. The intermediate cases of leather andpaper exhibit strong adhesion.

As a demonstration of CMOS circuits on leather and vinyl, we integratedarrays of inverters at finger joints in gloves made of these materials,as shown in the FIGS. 78A and B. Moving the fingers causes the circuitsto stretch and release, with no noticeable change in the electronicproperties. To examine fatigue, we cycle through such motion 1000 times,and measure the electrical properties at various stages of the test, asshown in FIG. 78C. For this example, the inverter threshold voltage andgain change by less than ±0.4V and ±5%, respectively. Similar circuitson paper are particularly interesting, not only for applications insmart cards and related technology, but also for their capacity to addfunctionality to paper-based microfluidic diagnostic devices. FIG. 79Aand the left frame of FIG. 79B show CMOS inverters on paper and theirproperties, in a series of bending, folding and unfolding tests.Electrical measurements associated with 1000 cycles of thesedeformations indicate stable, high performance operation (inverterthreshold voltage change <±0.4V, gain change <±10%.) and even goodcharacteristics upon folding and extreme bending (bottom, right frame ofFIG. 79A). This approach to electronics on paper provides an alternativeto those that rely on direct thin film deposition of organic orinorganic electronic materials.

In summary, the combined use of circuits with non-coplanar serpentinemesh designs and thin, low modulus strain isolation layers allowsintegration of high performance electronic devices and components, suchas silicon CMOS integrated circuits, on diverse substrates. The devicesoptionally have a top encapsulation layer to provide mechanicalprotection and an environmental barrier. Although these layers do notaffect significantly the mechanics of non-coplanar interconnects atmodest strains (<50%), they can have a significant influence at highstrain (>50%). Encapsulants with low moduli provide the most freedom ofmotion and, therefore, the highest levels of stretchability. Low modulus(˜0.5 MPa) formulations of PDMS, for example, increase the range ofstretchability from 60%, corresponding to the case of PDMS like thatused for the adhesive/isolation layer (1˜2 MPa), to 120%. Furtheroptimization of the encapsulant materials and serpentine geometries mayyield further improvement.

Experimental

Fabrication of ultrathin, stretchable CMOS circuits. In this example,fabrication of CMOS circuits starts with the doping of singlecrystalline silicon nanoribbons (260 nm) derived from n-type SOI wafers(SOITEC, France). P-well, pMOS and nMOS source/drain doping isaccomplished by using a 300 nm layer of silicon dioxide (SiO2) formed byplasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) as a diffusion maskand Boron (B153, Filmtronics, USA) and Phosphorous (P509, Filmtronics,USA) spin-on-dopants. Diffusion was carried out at 550˜600° C.,1000˜1050° C. and 950˜1000° C. for pwell, p-type source/drain and n-typesource/drain doping. The doped ribbons were released from the SOI waferby etching the buried oxide, and then sequentially transfer printingonto a carrier wafer coated with thin layers of PMMA (˜100 nm) as asacrificial layer and PI (˜1.2 μm) as an ultrathin substrate. IsolatednMOS and pMOS source/drain patterns were defined with photolithographyand reactive ion etching (RIE). Patterned etching of PECVD SiO2 (˜40 nm)provided the gate dielectric; metal electrodes (Cr/Au, ˜5 nm/˜1500 nm)deposited by electron beam evaporation and patterned by wet etchingdefined source, drain, gate and interconnects for the circuits. Spincoating PI (1.2 μm) on top of the resulting circuits formed apassivation layer and also located the neutral mechanical plane near thebrittle electronic materials. Finally, oxygen RIE through a patternedmask defined the serpentine bridges.

Transfer printing: Dissolving the PMMA layer with acetone releases thecircuits from the carrier wafer. Lifting the circuits onto a PDMS stampexposes their backsides for deposition of a thin layer of Cr/SiO2 (3nm/30 nm) at the islands by electron beam evaporation through an alignedshadow mask. Transfer printing the circuit to a PDMS coated surface(paper, vinyl, leather or fabric) activated by exposure to UV/ozone ledto —O—Si—O— bonding at the positions of the islands.

Cycling test and measurement: Cycling tests for gloves are performedthrough repetitive bending of joints after wearing gloves on which CMOScircuits were transferred. The electrical measurement is carried outusing a probe station (Agilent, 4155C) after a series of cycling tests.The cycling for paper was similar. The paper was folded and unfoldedrepetitively and measured with the probe station.

References for Example 5

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Example 6 Curvilinear Silicon Electronics by Use of Non-Coplanar MeshDesigns and Elastomeric Transfer Elements

All dominant forms of electronics and optoelectronics exist exclusivelyin planar layouts on the flat surfaces of rigid, brittle semiconductorwafers or glass plates. Although these largely two dimensional (2D)configurations are well suited for many existing applications, they areintrinsically incompatible with many envisioned systems of the future.For example, they do not enable natural integration with the soft,curvilinear surfaces of biological systems (e.g. body parts), for thepurposes of health monitoring or therapeutics. They also preclude theuse of many interesting, often biologically inspired, non-planar devicedesigns such as those proposed and recently demonstrated in fullyfunctional hemispherical electronic eye cameras (see, e.g., Example 2presented herein). Such curvilinear systems cannot be achieved easilyusing established technologies due to the inherently 2D nature ofestablished device processing procedures, ranging from photolithographicpatterning to deposition, etching and doping. This example providesadvanced concepts for conformally wrapping silicon based circuits,initially fabricated in 2D layouts with conventional or moderatelyadapted forms of existing techniques, onto surfaces with a wide range ofcurvilinear shapes. Quantitative comparison of theoretical mechanicsmodels to wrapped systems on diverse classes of substrates demonstratesthe underlying science and provides engineering design rules for futurework.

FIG. 80 provides a schematic illustration of the strategy, for the caseof conformal integration of circuits on the surface of a golf ball,which we will generically refer to as the target substrate. Theapproach, which represents a generalization of procedures reportedherein, begins with the formation of a thin, elastomeric membrane thathas the surface geometry of the target substrate. This process involvesfirst casting and thermally curing a bulk quantity of liquid prepolymerto an elastomer (poly(dimethylsiloxane; PDMS, Dow Corning) against thetarget substrate to form a solid, elastomeric replica. Casting andcuring a thin layer of PDMS in the narrow gap between the targetsubstrate (or a derivative surface formed from this substrate) and thereplica, while held in an aligned configuration by a specializedmechanical jig, forms a thin (down to ˜100 μm, for the experimentsdescribed in this example) membrane with an comparatively thick (˜5 mm)integrated rim around the perimeter, as shown in FIG. 80. We refer tothis structure as an elastomeric transfer element or a stamp. Mountingin a tensioning stage that applies radially directed force at the rimthrough the action of ten coordinated paddle arms pulls the thin,structured membrane of PDMS into the flat shape of a drumhead, in amanner that places all points under net tensile strain. In the nextstep, this tensioned transfer element contacts a separately fabricatedsilicon circuit mesh supported by, but not strongly adhered to, thesurface of a silicon wafer (i.e. handle wafer of the SOI substrate). Forthe experiments described here, the circuit was formed with conventionalplanar processing methods using a silicon-on-insulator wafer (SOI;Soitec) to form an array of silicon islands interconnected by narrowstrips of polyimide. Removing the buried oxide (thickness 400 nm) of theSOI wafer with HF leaves the top circuit layer raised slightly (˜400 nm)above the underlying silicon wafer, supported by polyimide poststructures that exist between the silicon islands. Peeling the transferelement back from the wafer lifts the circuit onto the flat, softsurface of the PDMS membrane, in a nondestructive manner via the actionof van der Waals forces. Releasing the tensioning stage causes the PDMSto relax elastically back to its original shape, carrying the circuitmesh along with it. During this process, the silicon islands move closertogether, with magnitudes corresponding to significant compressivestrain (depending on the radial pre-extension strain) The thin polyimideinterconnect lines accommodate this motion by delaminating from the PDMSto adopt non-coplanar arc shapes. This process accomplishes thegeometrical transformation from flat to curvilinear layouts, withoutinducing significant strains in the silicon regions of the circuit mesh.In the final step, this structure is aligned and transferred to thetarget substrate and the rim structure is cut away. Experimentaldemonstrations and theoretical analyses described herein revealessential details of this strategy.

FIG. 81 summarizes results in an experimental example corresponding tothe system of FIG. 80, with a mesh that consists of a square array ofsquare islands of silicon (100 μm by 100 μm; pitch 250 μm; thickness 700nm) and polyimide interconnects (width: 30 μm, length: 150 μm; thickness1.4 μm). FIGS. 81 a) and 81 b) show optical images of the mesh on atransfer element in the geometry of a golf ball and after integrationwith the ball. The dimples in this particular type of golf ball(diameter˜cm) have diameters and depths of ˜3.6 mm and ˜0.26 mm,respectively. The thickness of the silicon islands and the polyimideinterconnects are ˜700 nm and ˜1.4 μm, respectively. Scanning electronmicroscope (SEM) images reveal that compression of the mesh associatedwith the geometry transformation, in the range of about ˜20% or greater,depending on position across the structure. The images indicateremarkably high levels of uniformity in the wrapped circuit. In certainrelatively infrequent cases, we observe partial detachment of somefraction of the silicon islands located on the most highly curved areas(i.e. rim edges of the dimples). We do not observe cracking or any otherrelated mechanical failures in the silicon or the polyimide anywhere inthe system. Full mechanics analysis provides additional insights. FIG.81 e) shows that the maximum strain of the silicon islands is ˜0.09%which is significantly below the fracture strain (1%). The maximumstrain in the polyimide occurs near the edges of the silicon islands inthe most compressed regions of the mesh, and is ˜2%, considerably belowthe fracture strain for this material.

FIG. 82 shows an example of wrapping the same type of circuit mesh ontoa conical substrate. FIGS. 82 a) and 82 b) show the structure on thetransfer element and the target substrate, respectively. A notablefeature of this system, illustrated in the SEM images of FIG. 82 c)-e),is that the polyimide interconnects remain flat on the surface of thePDMS near the peak of the cone (FIG. 82 d)). The arc shapes increase incurvature from center to edge (FIG. 82 e)). Accordingly, provided hereinare methods and devices having spatially varying or inhomogeneousinterconnect geometry, such as interconnect amplitude, periodicity, orcurvature shape that selectively vary with position of the underlyingstamp or transfer element surface. This behavior can be quantitativelyrelated to the local levels of tensile strains in the transfer elementin its tensioned, flat membrane geometry. Full finite element modelingof the circuit system (without the polyimide interconnects) asintegrated with the PDMS transfer element appears in FIG. 82 f). Theresults show that the maximum strain in the silicon is ˜0.08%,decreasing with distance toward the center. This behavior indicates thatthe tensile pre-strain in the periphery of the extended flat PDMS ismuch larger than that in the central region. The higher strain in thesilicon islands at the center is due primarily to bending deformationsassociated with the small radius of curvature (˜2 mm) in this region. Bycontrast, the maximum strain in the PDMS is 12.6%, much higher than inthe silicon but still far below the fracture strain of PMDS (>150%).

FIG. 83 a) shows the case of a pyramidal substrate, to illustrateadditional features of the underlying mechanics. As with the conicalsurface, the polyimide interconnects show little or no buckling at thecenter due to negligible tensile prestrains in this region. Around theedges of the pyramid, however, different configurations of thenon-coplanar interconnects are observed. In particular, the contourshapes include not only single (i.e. global) but multiple (i.e. local)buckling, as highlighted in the SEM images of FIGS. 83 b) and 83 c). Togain insights into this behavior, we prepare a one dimensional array ofsilicon islands and polyimide interconnects, transfer them to a thinpiece of PDMS under uniaxial tension and then monitor the configurationsduring release of the tension. For relatively low strains, theinterconnects show no significant buckling. Multiple buckling occursover an intermediate strain range. Global buckling occurs as the smallmultiple waves merge together. Mechanical modeling shows that thesedifferent buckling behaviors relate to the degree of compressive stressand the adhesion energy between the polyimide and the PDMS. In the caseof the pyramid, radial tensioning of the transfer element by extendingthe rim from an unstressed diameter to a stressed diameter that flattensthe transfer element and creates meridional strains that are much lessthan the circumferential strains. This effect, combined with theunderlying buckling mechanics described above, accounts for the observedbehavior.

Although the examples described previously involve surfaces withpositive curvature, those with negative curvature are also possible. Asan example, we created transfer elements in the geometry of parabaloidsand transferred silicon circuit mesh structures onto both the convex(FIGS. 84 a)-84 c)) and concave (FIGS. 84 d)-84 f)) surfaces. Morecomplex, irregular shapes are also possible. FIGS. 85 a) and 85 b)demonstrate an example of a target substrate that consists of ananatomically correct, plastic model of a heart. As in previous examples,here the interconnects adopt a variety of configurations in differentareas, i.e. no buckling and multiple waves in the slightly strained area(a red rectangular region of FIGS. 85 c) and 85 d)) and multiple wavesand one pop-up structure in the comparably highly strained area (a bluerectangular region of FIGS. 85 c) and 85 e)). The underlying mechanicsnaturally determines the spatial distributions of these various buckledconfigurations.

An important aspect of these results is that the mechanics depends onlyweakly on the presence or absence of active devices, metal electrodesand other related structures on the islands and interconnecting bridges.To show explicitly the possibility of achieving electrically functionalsystems, we constructed test structures consisting of circuit mesheswith two metal lines encapsulated in polyimide and contacted to dopedsilicon islands through vias. The sandwich polyimide layout places themetal layer near the geometric center of the structure, near the neutralmechanical plane, thereby preventing significant strains in the metalsdue to buckling deformations. Silicon heavily n-doped with phosphorous(P509, Filmtronics) allows ohmic contact between the metal and thesilicon, to facilitate electric test. The mesh in this case consists ofa 28×28 array of silicon islands with ends configured for probing. Thetotal number of vias is 1404 (each pixel has two vias) and total numberof metal lines is 702. The lines are continuous in one direction alongthe array and discontinuous in the other. FIG. 86 b) showsrepresentative current-voltage curves of associated with probing thesetwo directions at the ends of a mesh wrapped onto a plastic model of afingertip (FIG. 86 c)-h)). The overall yield of electrical connectionsalong the continuous metal lines (the red arrow in FIG. 86 a)) was 99.9%(701 out of 702) and that along the discontinuous (the black arrow inFIG. 86 a)) metal lines and vias was 100% (1404 out of 1404). Theseresults provide clear evidence of the scalability of these approaches toactive electronics that could be designed for various applications (e.g.electrotactile stimulation for the case of FIG. 86).

An exemplary scheme for conformal wrapping to various complex substratesis summarized below:

Preparing Wafers

1. Clean a SOI wafer chip (Soitec, thickness of top silicon: 700 nm,thickness of SiO2:400 nm) with acetone, IPA, and water, followed bydrying 5 min at 110° C.

Si Isolation

2. HMDS pretreatment for 1.5 min.3. Pattern photoresist (PR; Clariant AZ5214, 3000 rpm, 30 s) with 365 nmoptical lithography through chrome mask (Karl Suss MJB3) and develop inaqueous base developer (MIF 327).4. Reactive ion etching (RIE; PlasmaTherm 790 Series, 50 mTorr, 40 sccmSF6, 100 W, 3 min).5. After removing PR, clean the chip with the acetone and piranhatreatment (˜3:1 H₂SO₄:H₂O₂ for 3 min).6. HF treatment (Fisher, concentrated 49%, 2 sec).Pre-Treatment with Sacrificial Oxide Layer7. Plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD; PlasmaTherm SLR) of100 nm SiO₂.8. Pattern PR & post-baking at 110° C. for 5 min.9. BOE 30 s=>Acetone, Piranha cleaning 3 min=> BOE 1 s.

Deposit PI and Pattern Holes for Oxide Box Layer Etch

10. Spin coat with polyimide (PI, poly(pyromelliticdianhydride-co-4,4′-oxydianiline) amic acid solution, Sigma-Aldrich,4000 rpm for 60 s).

11. Anneal at 110° C. for 3 min and 150° C. for 10 min.

12. Anneal at 250° C. for 2 h in N₂ atmosphere.13. Ultraviolet ozone (UVO) treatment for 5 min.

14. PECVD SiO₂ (150 nm). 15. HMDS 1.5 min. 16. Pattern PR.

17. RIE (50 mTorr, 40/1.2 sccm CF₄/O₂, 150 W, 8 min).18. After removing PR, clean the chip with the acetone.19. RIE (50 mTorr, 20 sccm O2, 150 W, 13 min) to remove PI.20. RIE (50 mTorr, 40 sccm SF₆, 100 W, 3 min).

21. BOE 35 s. PI Isolation

22. UVO treatment, 5 min.

23. PECVD SiO2 (150 nm). 24. HMDS 1.5 min 25. Pattern PR

26. RIE (50 mTorr, 40/1.2 sccm CF₄/O₂, 150 W, 8 min).27. Acetone washing.28. RIE (50 mTorr, 20 sccm O₂, 150 W, 16 min).

Box Etching and Transfer

29. PR coating.30. Grinding the corners of the chip=> Acetone washing.31. HF etching (20 min).32. UVO 5 min for the chip and PDMS mold.33. Transfer=> wrapping on a substrate.

In particular, a process for transfer of silicon-polyimideinterconnection arrays from a donor SOI wafer to a PDMS film relates tothe following. a) Wet etch an insulator layer to slightly undercut SiO2layer. b) Spin cast a polyimide layer to fill the undercut and the restarea to post the Si and prevent sagging down in the coming wet etchingstep-d. c) Pattern holes to allow HF etching through them to etch theSiO2 box-layer. d) Etch the SiO2 layer by dipping the chip in HFsolution. e) Pattern the polyimide layer to have narrow compressibleinterconnects. f) Expose UV to both surfaces of PI and PDMS to enhancethe adhesion between the both surfaces.

A molding process for use with electronic devices on complex-shapedsurfaces, such as a golf ball, for example, involves: a) Cast and cure aliquid pre-PDMS solution against the original golf ball at roomtemperature for 1 day. b) Expose the surface of the replica to oxygenplasma (O2 30 mTorr, 20 SCCM, 30 W, 15 s) in a reactive ion etchingsystem and dip it in water for easy detachment of PDMS in furthermolding process. Next, mold PDMS in a gap between the original targetsurface (or a PDMS replica) and opposing PDMS replica.

A molding stage can readily control thickness of PDMS over any desiredrange, such as, for example, a thickness from between about 100 μm and1.5 mm. The molding may occur by any means known in the art, such as by:mount the replicas with a steel molding stage; Fill and cure the PDMSprepolymer liquid between the gap between the replicas at roomtemperature for 1 day; Separate the base and side wall from theresulting PDMS molds; Remove the both replicas from thin golf ballshaped PDMS film with a rim.

A radial tensioning stage, such as a stage provided herein, providestwo-dimensional radial extension of the PDMS rim, thereby deforming thetransfer element to a geometry having a contact surface withsubstantially flat geometry. The transfer element can then be broughtinto conformal contact with a planar donor substrate. The donorsubstrate may support any desired electronic device, such as siliconisland arrays and polyimide interconnects, for example.

Arbitrary transfer element shaped surfaces may be used. For example, apyramid or a thin cone with a rim, such as having a thickness inside therim varying from 200 μm to 500 μm. Exemplary transfer elements may alsoinclude inner diameters in an unstressed state of about 20 mm toextended states of about 30 mm, for example, or any other dimensions toobtain a desired buckling geometry and buckling geometry spatialdistribution.

Example 7 Optimized Materials and Structural Designs for StretchableSilicon Integrated Circuits

This example explores materials and design strategies in stretchablesilicon integrated circuits that use non-coplanar mesh layouts andelastomeric substrates. Detailed experimental and theoretical studiesreveal many of the key underlying aspects of these systems. The resultsindicate, as an example, optimized mechanics and materials for circuitsthat exhibit maximum principal strains less than 0.2% even for appliedstrains of ˜90% (e.g., strain isolation better than 99%). Simplecircuits, including CMOS inverters and NMOS differential amplifiers,provide examples that validate these designs. The results suggestpractical routes to high performance electronics with linear elasticresponses to large strain deformations, suitable for diverseapplications that are not readily addressed with conventionalwafer-based technologies.

Electronic circuits that offer the performance of conventionalwafer-based devices but with the mechanical properties of a rubber bandhave the potential to open up many new application possibilities, mostprominently those that involve intimate integration of electronics withthe human body [1] for health monitoring or therapeutic purposes.Several interesting schemes have been demonstrated to achievestretchable circuits, as defined by reversible, elastic mechanicalresponses to large (>>1%) compressive or tensile strains. Those thatexploit single crystalline semiconductor nanomaterials, in the form ofnanoribbons or nanomembranes, are attractive due to the excellentelectrical properties that can be achieved. The most advanced strategiesuse single crystal silicon for the active materials of ultrathin devices(e.g. transistors) that are interconnected (mechanically and/orelectrically) with non-coplanar bridges, to provide stretchability up to˜100%, in a manner that maintains small material strains for linear,reversible response and good fatigue properties [7, 8]. In this example,we theoretically and experimentally study many of the key designvariables, including aspects of bridge design and encapsulation. Theresults reveal important features of the underlying materials andmicro/nanomechanics and provide design strategies for this class ofstretchable electronics technology.

The process for fabricating stretchable silicon circuits is similar tothat of recent reports [2, 8]. FIG. 87 provides an overview for systemsthat use non-coplanar serpentine bridge structures. The sequence beginswith high temperature doping processes, starting with an n-type siliconon insulator wafer (260 nm top silicon, 1 μm buried oxide; SOITEC,France), as shown in FIG. 87 a. Doped silicon nanomembranes prepared inthis manner are transfer printed onto a carrier wafer coated withpoly(methylmethacrylate)/polyimide (PMMA/PI, 100 nm/1.2 μm,MicroChem/Sigma Aldrich, USA) and then processed to yield ultrathincircuits (FIG. 87 b). Another transfer printing step lifts the ultrathincircuits from the carrier wafer to expose their back surfaces forselective area deposition of Cr/SiO₂ (3 nm/30 nm) through an alignedshadow mask (FIG. 87 c), and then delivers them to a biaxiallypre-strained piece of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS, Dow Corning, USA)bearing —OH groups on its surface. Strong covalent bonding forms betweenthe PDMS and the SiO₂ on the circuits upon contact and mild heating(FIG. 87 d). This bonding, together with the comparatively weak Van derWaals adhesion between the PDMS and other regions of the circuits, leadto a controlled non-coplanar layout in the bridge structures uponrelease of the pre-strain (FIG. 87 d).

Systematic study of this system began with investigations of thedependence of the mechanics on the bridge design, such as shown in FIG.88. FIG. 88 a shows a standard serpentine structure of low amplitude andwide width, formed with a pre-strain value of ˜30%. For an appliedstrain of ˜90%, the bridge changes shape, to first reach its originallayout when the applied strain equals the pre-strain, followed byfurther deformation at higher strains, without fractures. This abilityto accommodate strains larger than the pre-strain is absent fromstraight bridge designs explored previously. Nevertheless, theserpentine layout of FIG. 88 a exhibits stress concentrations near thecorners of the points of highest curvature, suggesting the possibilityfor mechanical failure in these regions. Full three dimensional finiteelement modeling (FEM) analysis (bottom frames in FIG. 88 a), indicatesmaximum principal strain of ˜1.7% for applied strain of ˜90%. Adifferent design, shown in FIG. 88 b, that increases the ratio of theamplitude to wavelength of the serpentine structure reduces the maximumprincipal strain to 1.26% under the same applied strain. Extending thisstrategy by decreasing the width of the lines and increasing the numberof ‘coils’ in the serpentines while maintaining the ratio of theamplitude to wavelength (FIG. 88 c) dramatically reduces the maximumprincipal strain to 0.13% for the same conditions. This sequence ofdesigns illustrate the extent to which bridge or interconnect design(e.g., amplitude, frequency, coiling, thickness, width) can influencethe micromechanics of these systems.

Another important design feature is the non-coplanar layout ofserpentines such as these. To reveal the effects, FIG. 89 comparescoplanar (formed with the Cr/SiO₂ adhesion layer deposited uniformly onthe backsides of the circuits) and non-coplanar systems with the bridgedesign of FIG. 88 c. For simplicity of comparison, the pre-strain waszero for both cases, leading to identical strain distributions for theunstrained cases shown in the left frames of FIGS. 89 a and 89 b. Withan applied tensile strain of ˜60%, the bridges in the coplanar remainlargely flat due to their adhesion to the PDMS substrate. By contrast,the bridges of the non-coplanar case delaminate from the PDMS and moveout of the plane to accommodate more effectively the applied strain.FIG. 89 c shows this behavior in scanning electron microscope (SEM)images. The left frame (60° tilted) corresponds to the system withoutapplied strain; the center (60° tilted) and right (top view) frames arefor strains of 60%. In the case of coplanar bridges, the constrainedmotion leads to much higher peak strains in the circuits compared to thenon-coplanar design. As a result, cracks and wrinkles appear inside theactive device regions contrary to the coplanar system, as shown in thecenter and right images of FIGS. 89 a and 89 b. The strain distributionsand maximum principal strains calculated by FEM analysis confirm theseexperimental observations (bottom frames of FIGS. 89 a and 89 b). Themaximum principal strains under applied strains of ˜60% for coplanar andnon-coplanar structures are 6.8% and 0.177%, respectively. FIG. 89 dshows tilted views of the FEM simulation results for the non-coplanarstructure before and after applying strain.

To illustrate the value of these simple, optimized designs, we builtCMOS inverters and NMOS differential amplifiers. The inverters exhibitedgains as high as ˜130, consistent with PSPICE simulation based onseparate measurements of individual transistors (FIG. 90 b, left) thatshowed mobilities of ˜400 cm²/Vs and ˜160 cm²/Vs for nMOS and pMOSdevices respectively, and on/off ratios >10⁵ for both types of devices(FIG. 90 c, inset). The inverters incorporated devices with channellengths and widths of 13 μm and 100 μm for nMOS and 13 μm and 300 μm forpMOS, respectively. Under large applied strains, the electricalproperties showed little variation, due to the strain isolation effectsof the bridges. For example, the inverter threshold voltage changed byless than ˜0.5V for strains of ˜90% in x and y direction, as shown inthe right frame of FIG. 90 b. To explore fatigue, we cycled the strainfrom 0% to ˜90% in the x direction 2000 times (FIG. 90 b). The invertersshowed little change in properties (gain and threshold voltage, VM)throughout these tests. This non-coplanar serpentine bridge strategy canbe applied not only to inverters, but also to more complex circuits.FIG. 90 d shows, as an example, a differential amplifier with designsand properties reported elsewhere. We divided the circuit into 4sections, each of which forms an island connected by non-coplanarserpentine bridges. FIG. 90 d shows magnified images of stretching inthe x and y directions. Electrical measurements verify that theamplifiers work well under these deformations. The gains for 0%, 50% xstretching and 50% y stretching were 1.19, 1.17 and 1.16 (design value1.2), respectively. Similar strategies are applicable to more complexsystems.

In practice, and especially for non-coplanar device designs, electroniccircuits preferably have top surface encapsulation layers to providemechanical and environmental isolation. An ideal material for thispurpose is an elastomer, with properties not too dissimilar from thesubstrate. For optimized mechanical response, this layer should provideminimal restriction of the free deformation of the interconnects, suchas the non-coplanar serpentine bridges. This extent of restriction iscontrolled, in large part, by the modulus of the encapsulating layer. Toprovide insights into the materials and mechanics aspects, and to allowanalytical calculation, we studied the behavior of straight bridgestructures. After fabricating corresponding non-coplanar circuits, weencapsulated the system by casting and curing PDMS with different moduli(1.8 MPa and 0.1 MPa) on top (FIG. 91 a). To prepare PDMS with thesemoduli, we mixed the prepolymer and curing agent (catalyst) at ratios of10:1 and 45:1, respectively [10]. To examine the stretchability, weapplied tensile strains up to the fracture point observable by opticalmicroscope (FIG. 91 a). With pre-strain of ˜60%, the inverter with noencapsulation can be stretched up to ˜59% without fracture. By contrast,similar inverters encapsulated using PDMS with modulus of 0.1 MPa and1.8 MPa modulus, the maximum stretchability decreased to 55% and 49%,respectively, as shown in FIG. 91 b. To confirm these changes, wedevelop an analytical model and perform numerical FEM simulation.

The models are further validated by measuring non-coplanar bridgeamplitudes during stretching of each system and comparing the measuredvalue to those obtained by FEM. The results show good agreement, asshown in the top frames and bottom left frame of FIG. 91 c); based onthese theoretical modeling, we estimate the maximum stretchability. Thestretchability decreases as we use the high modulus encapsulation,consistent with experiments (right bottom frame of FIG. 91 c) and FEMsimulation. FIG. 91 d shows FEM simulation images for no stretching andmaximum stretching of each encapsulation case.

On the basis of insight from the simple cases of FIG. 91, we apply PDMSencapsulation to non-coplanar serpentine bridges to examine responsesfor PDMS with moduli of 1.8 MPa and 0.1 MPa, and also for the case ofuncured, liquid PDMS. For the 1.8 MPa case, large applied strains(˜110%, right frame of FIG. 92 a) cause cracks, while small strains(˜50%, center frame of FIG. 92 a) does not. Although 0.1 MPa PDMS avoidsvisible cracks at ˜110% strain, the images suggest significant strains,as also indicated by FEM simulation (bottom frames of FIG. 92 b), withsignificant wrinkling in the device islands. For further improvement, anuncured liquid prepolymer to PDMS, without curing agent, can be injectedbetween the circuit level and additional thin, top solid encapsulationlayer of PDMS. As might be expected, the liquid PDMS has negligibleeffects on the essential mechanics, even after ˜120% external strain, asshown in FIG. 92 c. These three cases are supported by the theoreticalanalysis through finite element modeling (FEM) simulation.

Systematic studies of key effects of materials and design layouts on themechanical properties of stretchable silicon integrated circuits revealbasic strategies for engineering these systems. Using relatively simplestrategies, circuits with excellent electrical performance andreversible, elastic mechanical responses to applied strains in the rangeof 100% are possible. More sophisticated approaches, including use ofautomated design tools conceptually similar to those in current use fordesign of electrical properties in circuits, may further optimizemechanical properties and materials choices for desired applications.

The first step in fabricating stretchable silicon CMOS circuits is hightemperature diffusion for source, drain and well doping. In thisexample, n-type SOI wafer (SOITEC, France) with 260 nm top silicon and 1μm buried oxide provided the source of silicon nanoribbons/membranes.Since the mother wafer is n-type, the p-type well is formed first. Forp-well, 550˜600° C. diffusion of Boron from a spin on dopant (B153,Filmtronics, USA) was performed. Next, successive high temperaturesource and drain doping for pMOS (1000˜1050° C.) and nMOS (9501000° C.)was accomplished with Boron (B153, Filmtronics, USA) and Phosphorous(P509, Filmtronics, USA) spin-on-dopants, respectively. After hightemperature doping, doped nanoribbons/membranes were transfer printedonto a carrier wafer coated with layers of PMMA (˜100 nm) and PI (˜1.2μm). Electrical isolation of each transistor by reactive ion etching(RIE), followed by deposition of gate dielectrics using PECVD SiO2 (˜40nm) and metal electrodes (Cr/Au, ˜5 nm/˜1500 nm) using electron beamevaporation formed the CMOS circuits. Coating a thin layer of PI (1.2μm) as a passivation layer and forming the segmented, mesh structure byRIE completed the device fabrication. Dissolving the underlying PMMAlayer released the ultrathin circuits. Lifting them to a prestrainedPDMS exposed their back surfaces for selective deposition of SiO₂ ontothe active device regions. Transferring to a pre-strained substrate ofPDMS completed the process. Electrical measurements were carried outusing a probe station (Agilent, 4155C). Mechanical tests, includingfatigue cycling, were performed with custom made bending and stretchingstages. For the substrates, the stamps and the encapsulation layers,commercial PDMS kits (Sylgard 184, Dow Corning, USA) was used. Aftermixing the PDMS prepolymer and curing agent (catalyst) with anappropriate ratio, the samples were degassed for 1 hour to removebubbles generated during mixing. Curing was performed in an oven at 70°C. for 2 hours.

References for Example 6

-   [1] R. H. Reuss, et al., Proc. IEEE. 2005, 93, 1239.-   [2] D.-H. Kim et al., Science 2008, 320, 507.-   [3] T. Someya et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2005, 102, 12321.-   [4] T. Sekitani, et al., Science 2008, 321, 1468.-   [5] S. P. Lacour, et al., Proc. IEEE. 2005, 93, 1459.-   [6] D.-H. Kim, et al. Adv. Mater. 2008, 20, 1.-   [7] H. C. Ko, et al., Nature 2008, 454, 748.-   [8] D.-H. Kim, et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2008, 105, 18675.-   [9] X. Lu, Y. Xia, Nature Nanotechnology 2006, 1, 161.-   [10] Xin Q. et al., Biomaterials 2005, 26, 3123.

STATEMENTS REGARDING INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE AND VARIATIONS

All references throughout this application, for example patent documentsincluding issued or granted patents or equivalents; patent applicationpublications; and non-patent literature documents or other sourcematerial; are hereby incorporated by reference herein in theirentireties, as though individually incorporated by reference, to theextent each reference is at least partially not inconsistent with thedisclosure in this application (for example, a reference that ispartially inconsistent is incorporated by reference except for thepartially inconsistent portion of the reference).

The terms and expressions which have been employed herein are used asterms of description and not of limitation, and there is no intention inthe use of such terms and expressions of excluding any equivalents ofthe features shown and described or portions thereof, but it isrecognized that various modifications are possible within the scope ofthe invention claimed. Thus, it should be understood that although thepresent invention has been specifically disclosed by preferredembodiments, exemplary embodiments and optional features, modificationand variation of the concepts herein disclosed may be resorted to bythose skilled in the art, and that such modifications and variations areconsidered to be within the scope of this invention as defined by theappended claims. The specific embodiments provided herein are examplesof useful embodiments of the present invention and it will be apparentto one skilled in the art that the present invention may be carried outusing a large number of variations of the devices, device components,methods steps set forth in the present description. As will be obviousto one of skill in the art, methods and devices useful for the presentmethods can include a large number of optional composition andprocessing elements and steps.

When a group of substituents is disclosed herein, it is understood thatall individual members of that group and all subgroups, including anyisomers, enantiomers, and diastereomers of the group members, aredisclosed separately. When a Markush group or other grouping is usedherein, all individual members of the group and all combinations andsubcombinations possible of the group are intended to be individuallyincluded in the disclosure. When a compound is described herein suchthat a particular isomer, enantiomer or diastereomer of the compound isnot specified, for example, in a formula or in a chemical name, thatdescription is intended to include each isomers and enantiomer of thecompound described individual or in any combination. Additionally,unless otherwise specified, all isotopic variants of compounds disclosedherein are intended to be encompassed by the disclosure. For example, itwill be understood that any one or more hydrogens in a moleculedisclosed can be replaced with deuterium or tritium. Isotopic variantsof a molecule are generally useful as standards in assays for themolecule and in chemical and biological research related to the moleculeor its use. Methods for making such isotopic variants are known in theart. Specific names of compounds are intended to be exemplary, as it isknown that one of ordinary skill in the art can name the same compoundsdifferently.

Every formulation or combination of components described or exemplifiedherein can be used to practice the invention, unless otherwise stated.

Whenever a range is given in the specification, for example, atemperature range, a time range, or a composition or concentrationrange, all intermediate ranges and subranges, as well as all individualvalues included in the ranges given are intended to be included in thedisclosure. It will be understood that any subranges or individualvalues in a range or subrange that are included in the descriptionherein can be excluded from the claims herein.

All patents and publications mentioned in the specification areindicative of the levels of skill of those skilled in the art to whichthe invention pertains. References cited herein are incorporated byreference herein in their entirety to indicate the state of the art asof their publication or filing date and it is intended that thisinformation can be employed herein, if needed, to exclude specificembodiments that are in the prior art. For example, when composition ofmatter are claimed, it should be understood that compounds known andavailable in the art prior to Applicant's invention, including compoundsfor which an enabling disclosure is provided in the references citedherein, are not intended to be included in the composition of matterclaims herein.

U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 11/981,380, 11/851,182 (Pub. No.2008/0157235), Ser. No. 11/115,954 (Pub. No. 2005/0238967), Ser. Nos.11/145,574, 11/145,542 (Pub. No. 2006/0038182), Ser. No. 11/675,659(Pub. No. 2008/0055581), Ser. Nos. 11/465,317, 11/423,287 (Pub. No.2006/0286785), Ser. Nos. 11/423,192, 11/001,689 (Pub. No. 2006/0286488)and Ser. No. 11/421,654 (Pub. No. 2007/0032089) are hereby incorporatedby reference to the extent not inconsistent with the presentdescription.

As used herein, “comprising” is synonymous with “including,”“containing,” or “characterized by,” and is inclusive or open-ended anddoes not exclude additional, unrecited elements or method steps. As usedherein, “consisting of” excludes any element, step, or ingredient notspecified in the claim element. As used herein, “consisting essentiallyof” does not exclude materials or steps that do not materially affectthe basic and novel characteristics of the claim. In each instanceherein any of the terms “comprising”, “consisting essentially of” and“consisting of” may be replaced with either of the other two terms. Theinvention illustratively described herein suitably may be practiced inthe absence of any element or elements, limitation or limitations whichis not specifically disclosed herein.

One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that startingmaterials, biological materials, reagents, synthetic methods,purification methods, analytical methods, assay methods, and biologicalmethods other than those specifically exemplified can be employed in thepractice of the invention without resort to undue experimentation. Allart-known functional equivalents, of any such materials and methods areintended to be included in this invention. The terms and expressionswhich have been employed are used as terms of description and not oflimitation, and there is no intention that in the use of such terms andexpressions of excluding any equivalents of the features shown anddescribed or portions thereof, but it is recognized that variousmodifications are possible within the scope of the invention claimed.Thus, it should be understood that although the present invention hasbeen specifically disclosed by preferred embodiments and optionalfeatures, modification and variation of the concepts herein disclosedmay be resorted to by those skilled in the art, and that suchmodifications and variations are considered to be within the scope ofthis invention as defined by the appended claims.

We claim:
 1. A method of making a stretchable and foldable electronicdevice, said method comprising: coating a receiving substrate having afirst Young's modulus with an isolation layer having a second Young'smodulus, said isolation layer having a receiving surface, wherein saidsecond Young's modulus is less than said first Young's modulus;providing a printable electronic device on a support substrate;transferring said printable electronic device from said supportsubstrate to said isolation layer receiving surface; wherein saidisolation layer isolates at least a portion of said transferredelectronic device from an applied strain.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein said receiving substrate comprises a material selected from thegroup consisting of a polymer, an elastomer, a ceramic a metal, glass, asemiconductor, an inorganic polymer, and an organic polymer.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, wherein said receiving substrate comprises a materialselected from the group consisting of fabric, vinyl, latex, spandex,leather and paper.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein said isolation layerprovides at least a 20% or greater strain isolation compared to a devicewithout said strain isolation layer.
 5. The method of claim 1, whereinthe ratio of said first Young's modulus to said second Young's modulusis greater than or equal to
 10. 6. The method of claim 1, wherein saidprintable electronic device comprises a component of an electronicdevice, wherein said component comprises a plurality of interconnects.7. The method of claim 6, wherein at least a portion of saidinterconnects have a curved geometry.
 8. The method of claim 1, whereinsaid isolation layer comprises a polymer and said polymer at leastpartially penetrates said receiving substrate.
 9. The method of claim 8wherein the receiving substrate comprises fibers, wherein at least aportion of the fibers are embedded in said isolation layer.
 10. Themethod of claim 1, wherein said receiving substrate has a surfacetexture to increase contact area between said isolation layer and saidreceiving substrate.
 11. The method of claim 1 further comprisingencapsulating at least a portion of said transferred electronic devicein an encapsulation layer, wherein said encapsulation layer has aYoung's modulus that is less than or equal to said second Young'smodulus.
 12. The method of claim 11 wherein said encapsulation layer hasan inhomogeneous Young's modulus.
 13. A stretchable and foldableelectronic device comprising: a receiving substrate; an isolation layerthat at least partially coats one surface of said receiving substrate,said isolation layer having a Young's modulus less than or equal to saidreceiving substrate Young's modulus; and an electronic device that is atleast partially supported by said isolation layer; wherein saidisolation layer is capable of providing at least 20% or greater strainisolation when said device is stretched or folded compared to a devicewithout said isolation layer.
 14. The device of claim 13, wherein saidelectronic device comprises bond regions that are bonded to saidisolation layer.
 15. The device of claim 13, wherein said electronicdevice comprises non-bond regions that connect adjacent bond regions,said non-bond regions comprising bent interconnects.
 16. The device ofclaim 13 further comprising an encapsulation layer that at leastpartially encapsulates said electronic device, said encapsulation layerhaving a Young's modulus that is less than or equal to said isolationlayer Young's modulus.
 17. The device of claim 16, wherein saidencapsulation layer has an inhomogeneous Young's modulus.
 18. Astretchable and foldable electronic device comprising: a support layer,wherein said layer is elastomeric; a functional layer supported by saidsupport layer; an one or more neutral mechanical surface adjustinglayer; wherein at least one or more of any of the layers has a propertythat is spatially inhomogeneous, thereby generating a neutral mechanicalsurface coincident or proximate to said functional layer.
 19. The deviceof claim 18, wherein said inhomogeneous layer property provides one ormore flexible or elastic device region interspersed between a one ormore mechanically rigid island regions.
 20. The device of claim 18,wherein the functional layer comprises an array of nanoribbons.
 21. Thedevice of claim 20, wherein the nanoribbons are buckled and have a firstend connected to a first rigid island region and a second end connectedto a second rigid island region.